


Complex Will

by OceanMotion



Category: Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Genre: Adventure, Canon Compliant, Continuity of the Self, Cute Critters with Tons of Melodrama, Existentialism, Gen, Identity, Optimism, Post-Canon, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:22:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 59,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25259173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanMotion/pseuds/OceanMotion
Summary: Niwen has been at peace for generations, and the creatures of the forest have thrived under the protective Light of the New Tree. But for Liti the Moki, something is missing. Her kin are happy to frolic in safety and simplicity, but that life leaves Liti unfulfilled. She craves adventure and excitement, the kind had by the Hero-Spirit Ori all those years ago. But there's no one in the forest alive who remembers those days, save, perhaps, Ori themselves.How much can a journey change one's life before irrevocably changing one's very being? And, perhaps even more importantly, is it ever worth it to try and go back?
Comments: 40
Kudos: 69





	1. All That Glitters

_ It is just a scratch. No one is going to notice, _ Liti told herself for what must have been the tenth time as she limped back into the Glades with the large, sharp-toothed fish clenched tightly in her jaws. Despite her injury, the young Moki’s impressive catch filled her with more than enough pride to add a distinct swagger to her unsteady gait and banish the last of her self-conscious anxiety from her mind. Even so, as Liti awkwardly trotted across the rope bridges spanning the Glades’ numerous ponds and pools, she felt the eyes of the whole village upon her, the expressions of the Moki she caught out of the corners of her eyes displaying either concern or fear. 

“Liti! That fish is  _ scary _ !” a small voice called out as she passed by the dimly glowing Spirit Well in the center of the village. Soon, she was surrounded by an excited gaggle of pups who pelted her with questions and observations as they hopped around. 

“Where did you get that?”

“It is almost as big as me!” 

“Did you use a rod or a net?”

“You are all wet! Did you fall in?”

“Giant teeth!”

“Shiny scales!”

Liti mostly ignored them, though not because she wanted to. Elder Graz had “heavily discouraged” her from sharing her adventures with the pups, as minor as they might be. He was concerned that the impressionable little ones might run off into danger themselves and expressed that concern with a tone that clearly told Liti that she was being included in that group as well. 

_ It does not matter what any of them think! I am more than old and strong enough to- _

“Liti?” The larger Moki jumped a short distance off the ground and nearly dropped her fish, but it wasn’t the voice that had startled her. The pup had prodded her injured leg with a forepaw, and the unexpected jolt of pain had shot all the way to the tip of her tail. “Did the fish hurt you?” 

Liti set the fish down for a moment so she could speak. “It is…” she trailed off, having glanced back at her wound for the first time since entering the village. Her normally dark blue fur from the knee on her left-hind leg to her paw was stained a deep red with her own blood, though no one could see how deep the wound might be at a glance, Liti included.  _ No wonder the others were looking at me like that…  _ “…nothing. I am fine. I need to get home.” Liti snatched up the fish and scampered away from the crowd of children, ignoring the additional pain this caused her. 

Her home was a small, ramshackle hut on the edge of the glades that bordered the marsh. It wasn’t very pretty, as Liti had insisted on assembling it herself over the course of a season rather than accept the help of the local Gorlek, but it was hers, and she was proud of it. Once she was through the curtain of dried reeds that constituted her door, she promptly dropped her catch on the scrap-metal plate she used for cooking and slumped to the ground beside her washing basin as the pain in her leg managed to catch up with her. 

“Why am I so stupid?” Liti muttered to no one in particular as she pulled herself back onto her haunches and grabbed a small rag from the side of the basin to begin cleaning and treating her wound. She was no stranger to injury, the notch missing from her left ear was testament enough of that. In fact, she’d spent enough time fixing herself up that oftentimes the Moki would come to her for simple first aid rather than bother the local healer and receive a scolding. Liti never judged, and the token payments she received were appreciated. 

With her fur cleaned, it was easier to assess the damage. The fish had clamped down hard on her leg before she could catch it, but it seemed that that had only resulted in clean, albeit deep, punctures. Nothing some herb paste, a tight bandage, and a bit of rest wouldn’t fix, and thankfully she had the supplies on paw. 

With that all taken care of, a growl from her stomach reminded her why she had gone fishing at the Wellspring first place. Sure, fruit was plentiful, and the Glades had tons of fish that  _ wouldn’t _ try to eat her first, but that’s what she had eaten for the last four days, and the monotony was starting to drive her insane. If she was going to put effort into a meal, she may as well go all-out. Dinner was going to be just a tad extravagant as well, to go with the trouble getting the meat had given her.

Fish fillets, battered with a tasty flour-pine nut-water mix, and fried in a bit of vegetable oil made for the perfect, filling meal. Liti didn’t particularly enjoy cooking, but it was about the only way to treat herself after a long day she had, and this was certainly a treat. With a full belly and an aching leg, she retired to her hammock for the evening, too sore to do anything, but too stimulated to actually sleep. So, she ended up just doing what she normally did on a night like this. She watched the sunbeams that drifted through the cracks in her walls slowly shift as the sun set while desperately trying to cleanse her mind of her ever-racing thoughts. 

_ Is this all that there is? _ She wondered.  _ Every day is the same. I run around. I hunt. I eat. I sleep. _ The sun continued to sink lower in the sky.  _ It is a Moki’s way of life, though. We are fast to avoid danger, not run into it. We live for our friends and family, not for ourselves. We enjoy the simple things. _ A loud sigh broke the silence. _ And it is not enough. _ It was at that point that a singular sunbeam struck a small object hanging from her wall on a string. The small, polished but irregular gemstone scattered the light across the entirety of the hut, creating a dazzling display that danced like a shifting field of stars. It was a Spirit Shard, Liti’s most prized possession. At least she was pretty sure it was one. It always glowed softly when in the presence of a Spirit Well, resonating with the light within. Liti traded a winter’s worth of food and what seemed like never ending favors to a Gorlek merchant who had found the shard in a mine a little over a year ago. 

No one knew what it did, though. All the known and studied Shards in Niwen had been gathered up by the Hero-Spirit Ori generations ago and were presumed to have become one with them when they merged with the Light of the Forest and became The New Tree. Finding out wasn’t really possible, either. Liti would need to test it in a variety of situations, but a Spirit Shard needed pure, living Spirit Light to function, like what the Well provides. The free-floating stuff Liti would trade for the occasional tool or spice wouldn’t do. At least not in quantities that were even remotely reasonable to obtain. Only a Spirit could wear a Shard out and about and have it do anything useful. 

“The Spirits!” Liti shouted as she bolted upright in her hammock and nearly toppled to the floor. “I can go to the Spirits!” The Spirits were guardians, posted throughout Niwen to keep watch for monsters and other signs of Decay. If any creatures in Niwen were capable of going on adventures while still serving the greater good, it’d be them. They were spread thin, though. The birth of new spirits was a relatively recent development, so they were still rather rare. As it stood, Liti only knew where she could find one with any degree of certainty: The Spirit that stood in attendance at the roots of The New Tree themselves. That’d be quite the trip, and certainly not one to take with an injured leg. Maybe in a day or two, she’d be ready. In the meantime, she’d just have to keep her excitement and mouth in check until then. Bothering the Tree was rather... frowned upon by the Elders, and she’d never hear the end of it if anyone knew what she was thinking. 

And so, as the sun finally set and the stars faded from her walls, Liti drifted off to sleep with a smile, ready to dream of the road ahead. 


	2. Song and Dance

“ _EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!_ ”

Liti’s chittering squeals of delight echoed through the trees as she rocketed across the marshlands to the east of the Glades. Branch to branch, vine to vine, log to log, the Moki navigated all obstacles in her way with a well-practiced deftness. Bouncing off a bright blue spring plant, Liti gained enough height to perch on a high branch and survey her route ahead. Pulling an old map from the worn-out pack fastened to her back, she squinted as she tried to recognize landmarks that she wasn’t completely sure even existed anymore. Directions were never her strong suit, though, and if she didn’t make an effort to stop and plan, she was liable to just lose herself in how fun it was to run and get hopelessly lost. Kwolok’s Hollow was quite safe these days, and smaller enclaves of Moki still made their homes around the Guardian’s Shrine and the entrance to Mouldwood, where they traded and mingled with the spider-folk from the depths. It was the Shrine Liti needed to head towards, as the residents there kept vigil over the passage to the Silent Woods, near which The New Tree had taken root. 

Once she was confident enough in her route, it was back to joyously leaping about the trees. It only took a few hours to reach the Shrine this way, much faster than the average traveler taking the winding footpath. Once just outside, Liti gave herself a once-over, picking a few stray leaves out of her fur and wiped the mud from her paws. She needed to look as inconspicuous as possible if she was going to go through with this. All she had was rumors to work off of, she couldn’t exactly _ask_ anyone about this without tipping her elders off and being forbidden from leaving, but she felt like she had heard somewhere that the locals often tried to dissuade travelers from passing into the Woods beyond. She wasn’t sure why, but she wasn’t about to draw undue attention to herself either way. 

Liti entered, trying to stroll as casually as she could manage, which ended up just making her look extremely anxious instead. It was a small settlement compared to the Glades, just a few scattered huts surrounding a large stone structure amid all the deep ponds. Things were disconcertingly quiet, with not a creature to be seen. Liti wasn’t about to complain, though. She wasn’t antisocial by any means, but having to explain what she was doing, or even lying about it if she was feeling particularly adventurous, would just result in multiple instances of her sticking her paw in her mouth and basically ceaseless embarrassment. That eerie silence was eventually broken, though, as Liti neared the central structure. Or, rather, Liti finally got close enough to hear where everyone had gone. It was a sound Liti had not heard since she was a pup herself, and even then, only from an oddball traveler who had traded the novelty and its name for a warm meal before moving on the next morning. 

_It is a… song?_ Liti marveled, taking a moment to dredge up the long-buried term. A chorus of Moki voices echoed from the stone building, which Liti could only assume was the Shrine itself. Music wasn’t a foreign concept to the Moki. The birds and frogs and insects of Niwen all had their calls, and many were pleasing to hear. Rare was the Moki who could repeat the tones of one, though. Their voices were not that flexible, and the skill was not very practical to practice. That much was true of the Moki singing here as well. Their high-pitched voices frequently clashed, and the hums and chitters contained no recognizable words. And yet, the cacophony was somehow soothing. There was a serene beauty in this small community coming together to honor… something. The long-passed Guardian Kwolok, perhaps? In the end, it didn’t really matter, but Liti could not help but linger outside the shrine and listen until it became clear that she wasn’t listening alone.

“Quite the sound, isn’t it?” asked a low, wispy voice that startled Liti enough to make her let out a small yelp. After taking a moment to settle down, she turned to see that the voice belonged to a large, black spiderling. They were a little shorter than Liti herself, but more than three times as wide, making them quite imposing from the Moki’s point of view. “My apologies, I often forget that surface dwellers don’t have quite the groundsense that we do, and that our footfalls are too quiet for even your ears.” Their eight eyes gazed up at Liti with just enough sincerity to offset how unsettling it was to read recognizable emotions from such a face. “I’m Caesi, here to deliver an order of silk, but judging by your pack and the fact that you’re not participating, you’re probably not someone I can leave this with.”

“Yes, I am just, uh, passing through,” Liti explained, which caused Caesi to tilt their head in confusion. “I am Liti,” Liti awkwardly added after a few moments, which failed to help matters. 

“There’s not much to ‘pass through’ to past here,” Caesi said, “at least not for a Moki. Just petrified wood and a desert if you keep on past that, and you certainly don’t seem geared up for a trip to Gerora. The only other thing of importance out that way is The Tree, but you’d need to be extremely impatient, overconfident, or ignorant to approach from that direction alone. Same goes for trying to reach the Wastes.” The spider locked eyes with Liti, who froze on the spot. The multifaceted gaze pierced right through her feeble subterfuge, and she failed to come up with anything resembling an excuse. Instead, Caesi let out a long airy sigh and began fiddling with the bundle fastened to their underside. “You’re all of those things, aren’t you?”

All Liti could think to do was nod. 

“Look, Liti, was it? It’s not my business what risks you take to save yourself a few extra days of hiking around a mountain to get where you’re going, but my conscience would keep me up at night if I didn’t do _something_ to help you out. Here.” The spiderling finished untying the pouch they were carrying and held out their forelegs, presenting Liti with a tightly-wound coil of silken rope.

Liti cocked her head. “Do you want to trade, or…”

“It’s on the house. So that you can cross ravines and tar pits without the landscape swallowing you whole.”

“Do you not need it?”

“I just weave and sell these for surface dwellers, we can climb most things without assistance.” It was at that point that the singing of the nearby choir stopped, fading into normal chatter and conversation. “Guess the service is wrapping up. You’d better get a move on. They probably won’t be able to stop you if they find out what you’re up to, but they’ll spend hours trying to talk you out of it. In the meantime, I have some deliveries to make.”

Liti nodded and stowed Caesi’s gift in her pack before scampering off, eager to avoid embarrassing herself further. She stopped a short distance away, though, remembering some common courtesy. 

“Thank you, friend!” she called back. “I will pay you back someday, I promise!”

“I hope you find what you’re looking for,” they said, waving a spindly leg her way as they turned and scuttled away to set up shop. The words stuck in Liti’s mind as she ran into the darkening forest, but she quickly brushed them off. 

_Everything is great… is it not?_


	3. Solemn Stone

Gray. Liti had never seen so much gray. Though she'd never admit it out loud, and rarely even to herself, the barren vista of the Silent Woods before her was the reason that all of her adventures thus far had been eastward from the Glades. The Wellspring, Luma Pools, and turbulent coast beyond that were all bright and colorful and beautiful. They were a joy to traverse at any pace and doing so never failed to brighten Liti’s mood. But this… Even the stories of this she grew up with inspired nothing but dread and mourning for times long gone. 

No Moki alive today had experienced the Decay firstpaw, but all knew what it did. It corrupted and consumed all forms of life, destroying minds and bodies and leaving only twisted monsters and lifeless stone behind. The cleansing Light of The New Tree had driven the Decay from the creatures, water, and air of Niwen long ago, but the stone remained. New life could not be created from nothing, after all, and there was no life left in these woods. Just dead stone, tar, and ash. It could take a dozen of generations for the elements to soften the land enough for even the hardiest flora to creep back in, perhaps even longer. 

“But I am here now,” Liti said out loud to the dry winds. “I can do this. Focus on the goal. Just move like I normally do.” So she started to plan out her route from her vantage point atop a steep hill. Trying to stick to the high ground seemed to be the way to go. At the foot of all the crags and cliffs was a different sort of swamp, with bubbling tar instead of water and mud. Liti didn’t need to touch it to know that falling in there was likely a one-way trip. But the cliffs had plenty of footholds, and stone trees could still be jumped between. One deep breath later, and the young Moki began sliding down the slope before her.

Things went wrong almost immediately. 

Liti had not accounted for the point where the loose soil under her paws turned to rough and solid rock, and the increase in friction sent her tumbling head over heels to the bottom of the hill with a yelp. She very well may have rolled straight into the nearest tar pit if not the oddly shaped boulder she slammed into first. Groaning, Liti struggled to her feet, her vision still swimming from the impact. She stumbled a bit, and threw a foreleg out against the boulder to brace herself. And that’s when she felt it. The boulder wasn’t just oddly shaped. It was very _specifically_ shaped. Yanking her paw back, Liti turned her head to look at exactly what she had touched, hoping against all hope that the dread filling her mind was unnecessary.

It was not.

The stone Moki stared at her with dead, blank eyes, his expression frozen in what could only be described as solemn resignation. Liti squeaked and spun away, not wanting to look at or even think about the statue any longer. That spin brought her face-to-face with another statue, this one reaching for the first with a foreleg that had mostly crumbled away from exposure, remnants of fear in her weathered eyes. 

Liti screamed and bolted in the opposite direction, tripping over another object low to the ground along the way. She got up and kept running, not even daring to look at what had tripped her, lest it be a broken piece of a person, or perhaps a whole child if fate was feeling particularly morbid. She no longer remembered what route she had planned or what direction she was even facing. None of that mattered, she just had to get away. Get out of this cursed place. This grave. She ran until the sky turned red as the sun set, every potential place to stop and collect herself already occupied by some reminder of horrors past. Pieces of statues, petrified huts, discarded belongings. Liti was prepared to confront none of it. It wasn’t until she skidded to a stop at the edge of a deep ravine that her exertion caught up with her and her legs gave out, leaving her to flop onto the cold, hard ground with a soft thud. 

“What… am I… doing?” Liti said to the setting sun, gasping for breath after her extended sprint. She had known what had happened here, all those years ago. She _knew._ And yet she broke at the first sight of the aftermath. _Some hero I am, turning tail and panicking at harmless ghosts of the past. Has it really all just been talk?_

_“I hope you find what you’re looking for.”_

Liti recalled Caesi’s parting words, their poignance finally landing with the force of a falling tree. What _was_ she looking for? Adventure? Excitement? None of those could possibly be worth dying for. And what would an old, glowing tree or their children be able to do for her, anyway? She was just a single creature with a selfish wish when they had a whole forest full of life to look after. 

Rolling over, Liti slid her pack off of her back and idly rooted through it. Under the map, an old Gorlek knife, Caesi’s rope, and her spare food and water rations, she found the Spirit Shard. It was her good luck charm, a reminder of her inspiration to undertake this quest, and a symbol of... something? In her exhausted and defeated state, all she could really do was turn it over in her paws and stare at the spots of light cast by the setting sun as it filtered through the blue crystal. More than once she resisted the urge to just chuck the stone into the ravine and give up entirely, but eventually she just settled for slipping the cord holding it over her head and pulling herself to her feet. 

_Just going home and rethinking things is a good compromise, right? If setting out on impulse was a bad idea, wouldn’t abandoning dreams the same way also be wrong? Now, which way was-_ The attempt at reorienting herself was interrupted as a loud cracking noise assaulted Liti’s ears as it echoed between the numerous rocks around her. The Moki froze, afraid of disturbing the ground further, but it was too late. 

The ground beneath her crumbled faster than she could find new footing, sending her tumbling down the ravine amongst the chunks of stone. However, rather than scream and flail about, something odd happened. Liti calmly sprang into action, swinging her legs around to reach her pack as it fell alongside her, and pulled her knife from it. Then, gripping the blade as tightly as she could with both forepaws, she plunged the blade into the cliff face with as much force as she could manage. It was a desperate gambit, but she didn’t have time to worry about the odds. By some miracle, or perhaps previously untapped skill, the blade found purchase for a precious few moments in a shelf of relatively soft, crumbling shale, showering the Moki in bits of rock before striking more solid stone and ricocheting away from the wall in a burst of sparks. 

The knife spun off into the darkness, but it had done its job, slowing Liti’s fall just enough for her to have time to twist around and land with her pack beneath her to cushion her landing. In some distant, compartmentalized portion of her mind, Liti knew that the impact had should be incredibly painful, but she also knew that she didn’t have time to think about it. Hurting could come later.

Liti tucked and rolled after the first bounce, as the bottom of the ravine was heavily sloped towards the far wall. It immediately became apparent why when she landed back-first in a pool of warm, sticky tar with a wet plop. With a bit of struggling, Liti managed to pull herself into an upright position, but her squirming had caused her to sink much faster, the lower two thirds of her torso now completely submerged. If she held still, the sinking slowed, but did not stop, so she still had to act fast. Thankfully, a stroke of luck had caused her pack to end up just within reach, and she had one last tool tucked away that could get her out of this. 

With a bit of stretching (and further sinking), Liti managed to get a paw on the coil of rope Caesi had given her and pull on the loose end. It only took a few swift motions to tie that end around herself, and a minute more to unwrap the rope completely and form a crude lasso. By this point, though, the tar was up to her shoulders. If she sank much more, she wouldn’t be able to move her forelegs anymore. That meant Liti had just one shot at this, but she wasn’t worried. If anything, her focus grew even more intense, and time itself seemed to slow. It was almost too easy to send the loop of silk over a jagged chunk of rock on the shore and ensure that she wouldn’t sink any further.

She never got the chance to pull herself out, though. She had been plenty exhausted before all of this, and after the adrenaline of the last two minutes faded along with that feeling of extreme focus, she felt like she hadn’t slept in a month. Within seconds, Liti’s consciousness disintegrated into a troubled, awkward sleep, leaving her completely unaware of the figure that had clambered down the ravine to join her.


	4. Shift

Terror and pain shot through Liti’s mind and body with an intensity that she’d never experienced before as she jolted awake. But no sooner had the beginnings of a pained yelp escaped her muzzle than the feeling vanished, leaving the groggy Moki squinting through the bright sunlight from where she lay: on a bed of soft grass as the world came into focus. 

_ Grass? _ Liti patted the ground around her with a paw to confirm that it was real.  _ How did I get out of that pit? _ The act of rolling back onto her feet was a fair bit more painful that she anticipated. She hadn’t been this sore since she spent an entire day hauling lumber to build her house. She was more than capable of shrugging it off, though, especially after that bizarre jolt she woke up to. To her amazement, she wasn’t just no longer at the bottom of that ravine anymore. She wasn’t even in the Silent Woods at all. Rather, she was on the outskirts, having seemingly exited the Woods the way she had initially planned before everything… fell apart. 

The grass she was standing on began just a little ways away, and stretched up a giant but gently sloping hill that, while still marred by craggy, tooth-like boulders, was vibrant and filled with all sorts of small critters and birds and flora. This close to the New Tree, life surged and covered as much ground as could sustain it. While the soil was still too shallow and hard for trees and shrubs, grasses and wildflowers grew thick along the ground, and moss covered most of the rocks. And on a smaller one of these rocks, Liti found her belongings, all neatly laid out to dry in the sun. 

_ Even my knife is here? Either I somehow managed to rescue myself while passed out, or… _ “Hello?” Liti called out, but she received no response beyond continued chatter from the local sparrows. “Thank you for saving me!” Still nothing.  _ Maybe they left while I was asleep? If they didn’t, then maybe I can… _ Liti closed her eyes to eliminate distractions and focus on her other senses. As a small omnivore, a Moki’s senses were well adapted for tracking, both for elusive prey or fragrant plants to eat, and for dangerous predators to be avoided. So if Liti’s savior sounded or smelled like anything unusual, then she’d find them. The Moki’s large ears swiveled on her head, taking in the ambient soundscape.

_ One bird’s nest nestled in the rocks. A parent and four chicks.  _

_ Second bird on another, farther rock, seemingly unrelated.  _

_ Two lizards climbing down the same rock, likely fleeing the bird.  _

_ Rabbit running away because I was shouting. _

At first, there was no sign of anything but typical wildlife. But then the wind shifted, and it became abundantly clear that  _ something _ was there. It was not a scent Liti was familiar with in the slightest, and she struggled to conceptualize what it could even be compared to. 

_ It is almost metallic, but… tangy? Like an overripe berry? No, that is not quite it… The source is nearby, though! Just upwind! _

Liti opened her eyes and began trotting up the hill, keeping her nose close to the ground where the scent was most likely to linger. Soon enough, she tracked it to what she could only assume was the source… but she still couldn’t see anything. So she scampered up a nearby mossy boulder, grunting as her muscles protested her for daring to continue to exert herself.

“Oh!” Liti exclaimed as she nearly tripped over the large, pure white bird perched on top of the rock. The bird squawked in kind, and fluttered a short distance away. Oddly enough, the strange scent was even stronger up there, and yet there was nothing to see. “You can come out!” Liti shouted one last time, her ears and posture drooping when she was once again answered with relative silence. But when she looked down, she caught sight of her Spirit Shard, still hanging from her neck. It was glowing softly, something she had only ever seen happen when she held it near the Spirit Well back home.  _ There’s nothing here, though. Just me and… _ “You!” Liti perked up instantly and whirled around to face the bird, who was still perched on the far side of the boulder. “Are… are you a Spirit? Did you save me?” The Spirit-bird seemed to flinch when Liti directly addressed them, only to turn and spread their wings to take off. “Wait!” Liti instinctively pounced without thinking, managing to tackle her target just as it left the ground. The pair tumbled off the rock and onto the ground, with the Moki managing to land on top, quickly moving to pin the Spirit. “I just want to thank you and ask you questions!”

The Spirit struggled for a moment, but despite being just as large as Liti, they could not free their wings. After taking a moment to calm down, they took a deep breath and began to glow, as if they had been suppressing their Light the entire time. Then, faster than Liti could process, the Spirit seemed to melt inward, and in place of the bird, a glowing, white snake slithered free of the Moki’s grasp and made for the deeper grass.

“You- Snake? What?” Liti just stood there and blinked a few times, wondering if she had hit her head when she fell into the tarpit. She quickly shook it off and ran after the snake, though. She had somehow stumbled into exactly what she had come out here looking for in the first place, and wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip away. Thankfully, the Spirit’s strange scent was very easy to follow. If anything, it actually got more intense once they started glowing. What quickly became obvious, though, was that they were essentially at an impasse. The Spirit couldn’t lose Liti, and Liti couldn’t catch the Spirit. Every time she would get close, the Spirit assumed a new form well suited for escaping, whether it was a squirrel or a giant beetle or even one of those leaping mantis creatures that had become extremely rare after the Decay had been purged. Soon enough, Liti's frustration got the better of her. “Just! Let! Me! Talk!”

The anger in Liti’s shout caught her off guard, so she skidded to a stop, which her aching legs thanked her for. If the Spirit didn’t want to talk, why was she trying to force them? Was she really so desperate to complete the “quest” she had been moments away from giving up on the night before that she'd harass and antagonize a sacred Guardian Spirit that saved her life?

“Oh no… I am so, so,  _ so _ very sorry!” Liti called out into the bush that the Spirit had taken refuge in. “I let my excitement get the better of me, when you probably just want to be left alone. I just… I just wanted your help with something, and it is not fair to push you when you’ve already done so much.” Liti stood there in silence for a while, the only sound she heard being her heavy panting. Eventually, though, the bush rustled and the Spirit emerged, this time in the form of a Moki. Or, rather, in the form of Liti herself, sans color, ear notch and all.

“You… need help?” the Spirit asked in a perfect recreation of Liti’s voice, which was more than a little unnerving. “I suppose… that’s what I’m here for.”

Liti’s face lit up. “Oh, thank you! You will not regret it!”

“Regret is… too much work.”

“Uh, okay?” Liti tilted her head at the odd remark. “I am going to go get my stuff. Thank you for saving it all, by the way.” The Spirit simply nodded, and Liti scampered up to pack up her belongings. Now, Liti was no social butterfly, but even she could tell that the Spirit was not used to speaking aloud. They spoke slowly and carefully, and seemed to pause to think of their words. It made the fact that they were mimicking Liti all the more uncanny, since their mannerisms couldn’t be more different.  _ We Moki rarely visit this place, _ Liti realized as she began stuffing her gear back into the tar-stained pack, _ so I cannot imagine that they get much company… Do they even have any friends? _ Liti decided that she would be one, if at all possible. It was the least she could do for her savior. 

“What is it you need help with, Moki?” the Spirit asked from right behind Liti, causing her to yelp in surprise. They could certainly be stealthy when they felt like it.

“I, uh…” Liti stammered before composing herself. “It will take some explaining, so I was hoping we could find a nice shady place to sit and... chat?”

“...Very well, lead the way.”

“My name is Liti, by the way. What is yours?”

The Spirit was silent for an awkward moment. “...Zal?” They seemed to mull over the name as they said it.

“Are you not sure?”

“No, I’m sure. I’ve just… never said it out loud before. Mouth-sounds are so…  _ inconvenient _ . I  _ am _ Zal.”

“Well, Zal, it is nice to meet you!” Liti found a nice spot under a rocky overhang and plopped herself down. “This seems like a nice spot.” Zal sat down opposite her in an identical manner, right down to how they positioned their tail, and Liti couldn’t help but speak up. “Do you have to do that?”

“Do what?”

“Copy me. You look like me, you sound like me, you move like me… It is... uncomfortable. You can just show me the  _ real  _ you!”

“I’m sorry. I don’t...  _ have _ a real me to show,” Zal stated with a sort of sad resignation. 

“What do you mean?”

“We Spirits are each born with a... ‘gift.’ A unique way that the Tree’s light empowers us, and that we can pass on to our kin when we, well, pass. I was born with the gift of ‘shape,’ and so I manifested in the form of the first thing I saw instead of as ‘myself.’” Zal lifted a forepaw and stared at it, its glow reflected in their coal-black eyes. “All I really know how to do is look like what I’ve seen and remember…” 

“I am... sorry,” Liti said, her ears drooping as she instantly regretted her complaint. “I did not know.”

“It’s fine, I was inconsiderate as well. Here, let me try this…” Zal shifted once again, taking on a form that Liti recognized as being similar to drawings of the Hero-Spirit Ori, only taller and thinner, with a much shorter tail. “This is the form of my... brother, Anu,” they said, their voice now a bit lower and rougher. “How’s that? More comfortable?”

Liti nodded.

“Now, what exactly did you need help with?”

* * *

“I... understand, I think,” Zal said after listening to Liti’s rambling tale. 

“You do?”

“Yes. I don’t think that you’re thinking about it the right way, though.”

“What does that mean?”

“Adventure and excitement isn’t the problem. You can get that whenever you want, as demonstrated by your reckless trek all the way out here. But once you had your big, dangerous adventure, it didn’t fix anything, did it?”

“It…” Liti thought back to the terror of the Woods, and the despair it had instilled in her. How her goal seemed so pointless and unfulfilling in the face of it all. “It did not. I do not know what is missing.” She clenched her paws, claws tearing at the lush grass. 

“Purpose,” Zal answered bluntly.

“Purpose?” The word almost seemed alien to the Moki. She knew what it meant, of course, but for her kind, ‘purpose’ was a foregone conclusion.  _ We stay alive for the good of our family and village. We start and care for the next generation, so that we can pass what we have learned on to them, all so that they can do the same. _ That is the way it had been since before Liti was born. Sensing the Moki’s inner conflict, Zal asked a new question.

“What are we Spirits to you? What is  _ our  _ purpose?”

“You are our Guardians. Protectors of Niwen… right?”

“Do you think that we had no choice in that?”

Liti opened and closed her mouth in silence. She didn’t have an answer for that, her mind having hit a snag she couldn’t easily overcome.

“I don’t know what your legends and elders taught you, but Spirits do not simply come into this world fully grown and aware of what they must do. We are still born children. We learn. We grow. And then… we choose. To the Tree, it is the single most important thing we do.”

“The Tree? Why? Do they not want you to follow their path? That is what I was always...”

“Told? Isn't that the root of the problem to begin with?” Zal actually laughed and cracked a smile, the first time they had done either since they met. Even in her focused and confused state, Liti couldn’t help but notice how much more confident Zal’s speaking had become over the course of the discussion. “I don’t know all the details of this particular story. Some bits of the Tree’s past are private. Memories not shared, even when our thoughts and souls touch. But I know enough. Once upon a time, the Spirit Ori did not get to choose. No matter where they went or what they tried to do, the only alternative to being a Guardian and suffering incredible pain and hardship was the death and decay of everything. But now, thanks to their sacrifice, it can be different. They never want that to happen to anyone ever again. The way I see it, that should include  _ you, _ too.”

“My choice.  _ My purpose... _ ” Liti still couldn’t quite wrap her head around it.  _ This does not have to be a forbidden diversion, done in a day only to be forgotten about after a harsh scolding. _ “I do not have to go back. I can  _ decide _ to…” She trailed off, still unclear on what the possibilities for such a choice even were. 

“Well, if you want my opinion-” Zal's suggestion was cut off by a bright flash of yellow light streaking across the sky. Their eyes widened, and they lept to their feet. “Oh no. Oh no oh  _ no!”  _

“W-what is it?”

“I was supposed to report in hours ago!” Zal shifted back into a Moki, presumably for speed, though this one was at least noticeably different from Liti. They took off running uphill, though not before their tail extended to a rather unnatural length and wrapped around one of Liti’s front legs, yanking her along with the panicked Spirit. “You’re coming too! I need proof that I’m not late for no reason!”

“Ok- _ oof! _ ” Liti tripped and stumbled, Zal’s tail getting tangled in her forelegs, but after the Spirit released her and shot her a sheepish grin, the Moki was fully along for the ride. Liti sprinted alongside Zal for a minute before they came to a small, weathered stone dias, which she soon recognized as a Spirit Well, though it was of rather different construction than the one in the Glades. Zal leapt on top and motioned for Liti to follow, which she did, unsure of what her new friend was planning. 

“Just, uh, shut your eyes and hold on,” Zal instructed as the Well’s glow intensified. “I’ve never pulled anything living with me through a Well before, but it  _ should  _ be fine. At least the rocks and tools I’ve experimented with were no worse for wear.”

_ Should? _ “I am not sure-” Liti’s protest was quieted by a shushing motion from Zal’s tail. 

“Everything’ll be fine, Liti, I promise. You’re about to meet my parents after all!” Liti opened her mouth to get one last word in edgewise, but before she could, the pair vanished in a blinding vortex of light.


	5. Open Ended

Zal nimbly hopped off the destination Well the instant they appeared. Liti, however, tumbled off in a disorientated mess and landed in a heap on the grass. After two failed attempts at standing, she managed to struggle to her feet, only for her knees to buckle as a second, even bigger wave of vertigo and nausea hit her. 

“Liti!” Zal rushed to the Moki’s side, shifting into the form of a spiderling so they could use their front four legs to hold her up. “Are you okay?”

Liti could only answer with the retching sound of her dry heaves, and was incredibly thankful that she hadn’t had anything to eat since before entering the Silent Woods. 

“Stupid question, fair enough. No more transport-by-Well for you.” Zal flinched as the sky lit up again, this time with far more intensity. “Just, uh, sit tight and recover. I need to go give a report. Feel free to follow when you’re able, should be obvious which way to go.”

Liti groaned in the affirmative and opted to just fall over and lay there for a while, letting the soft grass and pleasant breeze distract her from the feeling that her insides had been scrambled as much as possible. After an indeterminate amount of time (the poor Moki’s sense of time was just as mixed up as her stomach), she recovered just enough for her curiosity to be more powerful than her queasiness, and she pulled herself off the floor for what felt like the millionth time in the last hour. 

They had arrived in something of a valley in the shadow of the nearby ruined mountain, with trees growing densely all around. Small, babbling streams flowed, diverged, and reconverged on both sides of the Well. More than small and shallow enough to just be walked through, but they contributed a beautiful ambiance to the local soundscape. Zal had been completely right about navigation, though. A pulsing aurora of golden light filled the air in one direction, and Liti had a pretty good idea what, or rather who, it was coming from. 

Liti crept forward through the brush, unable to completely shake the feeling that she shouldn’t be here. This was sacred ground, after all. But she pushed onward, sure in her goal. The fact that she’d been invited certainly didn’t hurt. Soon, she reached the edge of a clearing, pushed some low branches out of the way, and…

“Wow…” Liti had seen so much artwork of this place in her short life. Engravings and charcoal sketches adorned the walls of many a home in the Glades. But never in _color!_ The valley itself was much the same as near the Well, if a bit more flowery. But the main attraction was the Tree itself. Taller than any tree in the forest, their massive trunk filled the valley floor, with gargantuan roots twisting in and out of the soil in every direction. But in truth, the Tree themselves was only half-plant. 

Once, when she was very young, Liti had witnessed a great, old oak near the Glades be struck by lightning during a heavy storm. The blast had violently gutted the oak, and set its insides ablaze. That blaze was what the Light of the Forest reminded her of most, with its golden glow peeking out of holes in the Tree’s bark to reveal the energy-filled hollow within, and the bulk of the Light erupting from the crown of the tree to form the brilliant aurora that filled this valley and the skies beyond. The Light was not violent, though. It and the physical form of the Tree grew together in round, natural shapes, and its aura seemed to ease Liti’s aches and anxieties even at this distance. And almost as a final artistic stroke, large, oblong pods of pure Spirit Light hung from many of their branches. Liti was unsure if they could be considered fruit, but some part of her still wanted to taste one. 

It took a bit of looking for Liti to spot Zal, or at least what she assumed was them. Next to one of the great roots stood a small, white sapling, one of its branches reaching over to touch the root, where a bit of the Tree’s Light flickered between them. The Moki was afraid of interrupting the moment, but it seemed that her presence was noticed anyway, as the sapling shifted back into Spirit form Zal had used earlier. 

“Liti! You’re up!” They called. Noting the Moki’s apprehension, they motioned for her to come closer. “Don’t be shy, they’re all bark and no bite!”

“Are you… sure that this is okay?” Liti asked as she approached. 

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Elder Graz says that The New Tree is very busy protecting and guiding Niwen and should not be disturbed. That any disruptions of your sacred vigil put Niwen and its restoration at risk. I had to lie and sneak away to set out to come here in the first place, and even then, I never intended to get this close…”

“That... would explain some things,” Zal said, an odd hint of anger entering their voice. When Liti cocked her head in confusion, they explained. “It happened shortly after I was born. Moki visited and mingled with my siblings and I all the time back then. They were always reverent towards the Tree, of course, but they treated us Spirits like any other creature. They were such fun to play with, too.” The Spirit sighed and looked at Liti with what could only be described as longing for days long past. “Then, one day, they stopped coming. The last Moki I saw before you was a very odd one who came alone and spoke of how ‘sacred’ and ‘holy’ my duty was, leaving me a hand-woven flower arrangement like it was some sort of ritual offering. And then nothing for years and years…”

“So, you mean...”

“One of your Elders, this ‘Graz’ perhaps, seems to have set us up as objects of worship. More symbols than living beings.” Zal’s hands clenched into fists. 

“Is it not nice to be respected, though?” Liti asked, confused by this response. 

“I am not _above_ you, Liti!” Zal snapped. “I’m just a Spirit! That only makes me as different from you as you are from a Gorlek or one of the nomadic birdfolk! All I ever wanted was-” A pulse of Light from the Tree cut off Zal’s rant, and the Spirit took a deep breath and a few moments to release the tension in their body. Finally, they said one last thing in a quiet, defeated tone. “Respect and worship are not the same.”

“Then...I will simply respect you,” Liti declared, rearing up and extending a forepaw. “As a friend, if you will have me.” Zal stared at the gesture and tentatively began to reach out to accept it, but stopped just short before withdrawing. Liti’s ears drooped as she pulled back her paw as well. “I underst-” The Moki’s sadness was short-lived, as Zall leapt forward and embraced her with all eight legs of their spiderling form.

“Thank you,” they whispered, holding the hug for an awkwardly long time, only breaking it off when a small spark of Light leapt off of the nearby root and stung the Spirit in the abdomen. “Oh! Right!” Shifting into a Moki, Zal scampered around to Liti’s backside and began rooting through her pack while it was still on her back.

“Uh-”

“I could have sworn I saw a map in here when I was drying this stuff out. Ah, there we are!” Zal ran back in front and opened the map up on the ground between them. “Before I got sidetracked with, well, you, I was doing some scouting and investigating some… vibes? That the Tree felt, and between the three of us we’ve rather conclusively identified the issue.”

“And the map?” 

“For your benefit, mostly. Can’t share a mental image with the Lightless.” Zal traced a claw across the aged parchment before tapping a spot on the far side of the mountain, not too far from where they had met. “There-ish. Willow’s End.”

“Where the Old Tree was planted?”

“Indeed. A few days ago, there was something of an earthquake in that area. Seems like some old chunk of earth that hadn’t collapsed in Ori’s last battle finally gave out.”

“Why is that a problem?” Liti asked. “Are there villages in danger from the landslide?”

Zal shook their head. “No, nobody lives out there. And it wouldn’t normally be a problem either, except that the quake exposed something buried deep within the mountain. A Corrupted Heart.” 

Liti stared blankly, the term going right over her head. 

“It’s Decay. A glob of pure, concentrated corruption strong enough to sustain even more corruption around it. Ori destroyed many on the last leg of their journey, but apparently one survived by being so out of the way and isolated that not even the Light of a restored Spirit Tree could find and purge it. And after all this time it’s built up too many defenses for that to even be possible anymore.”

“And now it can… spread...” Liti’s mind was filled with images of the Silent Woods and the stories of terrible corrupted beasts that attacked every creature around indiscriminately. The faces of the stone Moki in particular caused her to shudder. 

“Potentially, yes. And that’s what we were discussing when you arrived. It’s not going to be safe for you to depart here until it is dealt with, but we have more than enough here to accommodate a guest.” Zal gestured towards what Liti could only assume were the Spirit’s living quarters: a few woven hammocks and various other bits of rough-hewn wooden furniture sheltered under the trees. “In any case, I would need to act fast to limit the damage. Destroying the Heart should be enough to cause the rest of the Decay to succumb to the ambient Light after a day or so, but…”

“But?”

“But, I…” Zal slumped onto their hindquarters and hung their head in shame. “I can’t do it.”

“Why not?”

“I’m… not strong enough,” Zal explained. “Among the myriad of gifts my siblings possess, each is suited for a different kind of task. My shifting is limited to things around my size, and I cannot become physically stronger than I already am. I can scout and fly and adapt, but I can’t _fight_ . If _you_ were able to overpower me, then what chance would I stand in combat against the Decay?” The Spirit gave a sardonic chuckle. “I can’t even get near that crater without vile tendrils lashing out or spitting at me. The very presence of my Spirit Light seems to enrage them. The only thing to do is to perform the Light Ceremony.” Zal’s demeanor grew even darker and more withdrawn as she said that last sentence, though Liti was too distracted by the new terminology to take notice.

“You really like talking about things I’ve never heard of,” she mumbled, though apparently not quietly enough for Zal not to hear. 

“The Light Ceremony is a call. A summons that compels every child of the Tree to return home for some purpose. If the Tree calls out, then the scattered Guardians can come together and eradicate the problem.”

“Then that is the answer, and we do not need to worry!” Liti flashed a wide, toothy grin at her glum new friend, only to finally take notice of their reticence. “...Right?”

“It’s not that simple. The Ceremony takes a great deal of strength from the Tree, especially since they are so young, which means that the Heart can spread Decay faster until they recover. On top of that, it could take days before any Spirits capable of fighting arrive, which will only increase the potential for casualties and make damage control that much harder. All because I’m too weak to do anything useful myself…” 

“Zal…” Liti placed a paw on the Spirit’s shoulder, trying to reassure them. She couldn’t help but notice how striking the contrast between her own dark fur and their brilliant white coloring was. Even as skilled at mimicry as they were, some parts of Zal were unchangeable. Liti understood that frustration all too well. However, that contrast sparked something in the back of Liti’s mind, and soon an idea started to form. 

“What if… _I_ did it, instead?” Liti asked. The proposition snapped Zal out of their funk and left them staring at the Moki, completely dumbstruck with their mouth agape.

“Y- _you_?”

“I am Lightless, yes? If the monsters there react to Spirit Light, then something without it might not cause them to react at all.”

“In theory, but-”

“So if I sneak in, I can break the Heart with a rock or something! Then we can prevent most of the damage and the Tree does not have to strain themselves!”

“Absolutely not!” Zal leapt to their feet, taking the form of yet another Spirit to better gesture with their arms, this one with much sharper features and distinct claws. “It’s too dangerous, and I didn’t rescue you from the Silent Woods so you could throw yourself into another deathtrap! This isn’t your fight!”

“Well, I am _choosing_ for it to be!” Liti shot back, her escalating tone betraying her frustration. “Niwen is my home, too! If I can do something to protect it, I will!” At those words, a single, white flower sprouted from the soil between them, instantly blooming and bringing the rollercoaster of a conversation to a screeching halt. As Liti stared at the new growth in confusion, Zal turned and looked up at the Tree.

“Are you sure? No, of course you are. You’re always sure of everything.”

“Zal?”

“It’s the Forest’s blessing, Liti,” Zal explained with a bit of a forced smile. “Consider yourself deputized.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Okay, tell me the plan again,” Zal said, nervously hopping around their camp in the form of a small monkey and gathering the various bits of gear they had been inspecting and honing the night before. 

“Zal, this is the fifth time,” Liti yawned. She’d always tried to avoid getting up at the crack of dawn, but they’d already taken a day to prepare for this mission, and saving the day was far more important than her short-term sleeping habits. 

“Just humor me. I want to know that you’ve got it memorized for sure.”

Liti sighed, and began another recitation. “You accompany me to the edge of the Decay’s influence, then I move in on my own. I stay as far away as I can from any stray goop or corrupted creatures I see and make for the Heart. I stab it with a spear until it dies and then run away.”

“And the most important part?”

“Do not listen to the voices.” That last part was actually what Liti was most worried about. The way Zal explained it, the Decay has a will, albeit a simple one. It whispers tempting offers and falsehoods in the minds of the Lightless until their minds succumb, with their bodies failing soon afterward. That was how so many Moki fell to it in the Woods when they had so much time to escape. They were convinced not to leave by some warped logic that got planted in their heads.

“Good, now there’s just one last thing to tell you,” Zal said, presenting Liti with a fully loaded pack with various larger items fastened to the side for easy access. 

“Oh?”

“I’m keeping this.” Zal held up Liti’s Spirit Shard pendant, which was previously among the rest of the gear they had been sorting through. “For now, at least.”

“I was just going to wear that, it won’t take up any extra room.” Liti reached for the pendant, only for Zal to pull it away. “Hey!” 

“Wearing it is the problem. We Spirits have a certain sense about what these Shards can do if we study them long enough. This is the first one I’ve ever seen, but I was immediately able to tell that it at least functions automatically on a trigger.”

“Why does that matter? I do not have any Light to power it, so it is just my good luck charm.”

“Normally, that’d be true. But this particular Shard is… gluttonous? Greedy?” The Spirit paused to try and think of a better word, only to shrug and continue. “Anyway, when it activates, it draws out everything it can, even when the host has nothing left to give. It could probably drain even me if it stayed active for too long. If this were to happen to you while you were near the Decay…”

“I’d be done for…” Liti remembered falling into the tarpit two days ago, and how she had inexplicably lost consciousness before she could escape. _I was wearing the Shard then, too. Does that mean some part of my essence is a small bit of Light that can be taken? Is it my mind? Or the spark of life itself, perhaps?_

“Most likely. I’d like to study it some more in the meantime,” Zal said. When they noticed Liti’s sadness over the loss of her most prized possession, they added, “It’s just for the mission! You can have it back when your life won’t be endangered by it. Plus, I packed you a replacement!”

“Another charm?” Liti asked, intrigued.

“Not quite. This’ll actually have some use where you’re going! Now hold still.” Zal ran around behind the Moki and wrapped something around her neck, tying it off loosely. “There you go!” Liti reached up and tugged lightly on the bit of cloth, pulling it out just enough to get a look at it. It looked like just a simple cotton square, folded into a triangular shape, but it was dyed an exotic purple color Liti had never seen outside of the Luma Pools. “It’s a bandana! The Gorlek use them to keep from breathing in sand when it’s whipped up by the wind in the 

Wastes, so I thought it might help when you’re breathing in that stale, Decay-filled air. Plus, I think the color suits you!”

“It’s… perfect,” Liti said, the warm and fuzzy feeling the gesture gave her leaving her far more at ease than she was before. “I think I’m ready to go if you are.” The Moki smiled. If this was what “purpose” felt like, then she may have found what was looking for. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! As a treat, here's some art of Liti!  
>   
>    
>    
> \- [by @perrydraws on Twitter!](https://twitter.com/perrydraws)


	6. You Break It, You Buy It

“This is your last chance to back out,” Zal squawked from their perch atop the last tree at the edge of the cave-in. Even with the raspy voice of a raven’s form, the Spirit’s persistent concern was obvious. Liti had no idea that common birds were capable of speech, but she supposed that she had never tried talking to one. 

“I can do this,” Liti said. 

“You say that, but-”

“I  _ will _ do this,” Liti insisted, cutting a repeat of this argument off at the pass. “And I will be okay.”

“Yeah…” Zal turned their gaze intently towards the crater. “I can watch you from above and run interference if something bad happens for a little while, but it looks like the Heart is still sheltered in the cave somewhere. You’ll be on your own past that point.”

“Zal?”

“Yeah?” 

“Will  _ you  _ be okay?”

“What? Of course!” Zal bristled at the question. “Why wouldn’t I be?” 

“I have noticed a… trend,” Liti said. “I do not know how it was before we met, but in the entire time I have known you, everything I have said and done has caused you to react… strongly.”

“ Strongly .” Zal repeated bluntly.

“You go through multiple feelings within one conversation. I say something kind, you rejoice. I bring up something that reminds you of something sad, you withdraw and sulk. I say something you disagree with, you-”

“Okay, I get it!” Zal snapped, cringing immediately afterward as she realized how right Liti was. “I’m sorry. I  _ am _ temperamental, aren’t I? Doesn’t help that I’ve been alone for so long that I forgot how to…” They idly flipped their left wing as they tried to come up with the right word. “...people? I forgot how to people. Not just talk to people,  _ everything  _ to people _. _ Spending time with the parents doesn’t exactly help you learn to properly express your emotions when it’s nigh impossible for them not to know  _ literally everything _ about my state of being every time we touch, does it?”

“I... do not think I can relate.”

“No, I don’t suppose you could.” The pair fell into an awkward silence for several incredibly long feeling seconds, but it was quickly broken by Zal bursting into scratchy laughter, nearly falling off their perch in the process. “Here you are, about to dive head first into the single most dangerous place in all of Niwen, and you stop beforehand just to try and sort out another one of my issues altogether!”

“I am sorry, I will try to-”

“Oh,  _ shush _ !” Zal swooped down and landed in front of Liti and bopped her on the end of the muzzle with a wingtip. “You just keep being you and save the forest. We’ll have all the time in the world to hash out how silly we’ve both been when this is over. Sound good?”

Liti smiled and nodded before turning and taking off down the slope towards the Corrupted Heart, Zal taking to the skies above to watch.

* * *

_ Run. Run faster. Sidestep purple puddle. Weird shambling blob in the distance, loop far to the right. _

Liti dashed around debris and patches of corrupted cave flora as she descended the slopes of the Pit of Death, as she had taken to calling it in her head. It took a surprising amount of concentration to not break into a dead sprint then and there. She needed to conserve energy for her escape, but just being here made her so uncomfortable that there was basically a part of her mind screaming at her that she needed to get out at all times. 

“You’re doing great!” Zal shouted, just barely audible from their high altitude. The words actually managed to put Liti at ease somewhat. Zal’s presence was something else to focus on while her maneuvering was on autopilot. This kind of movement was her specialty, and overthinking it was the greatest danger she faced, at least at this stage. 

_ Hop over small crag. Slide down patch of gravel. Crawl beneath collapsed debris. Stay quiet to hide from more shamblers. Keep moving. _

_ Just slow down and relax. _

Liti slowed to a brisk walk, still cautious, but lacking her previous urgency. The entrance to the cave loomed overhead, and even she could feel the sheer pressure this place exuded.

“Liti!” Zal called. “You can do it! Don’t slow down! I’ll be right here when you get out!”

“I… slowed down?” Liti muttered as she stopped and shook her head, trying to clear the odd foggy feeling that had settled there. “That wasn’t me…” New feelings of dread and terror crept into her mind as she realized exactly what was happening. The Decay’s influence wasn’t like someone else talking to her like she had expected. It sounded like her. It felt like it  _ came from her. _ If she had kept on moving without thinking and running on instinct…

_ I need to lie down and think about- _

“Shut up _shut up_ _SHUT UP!”_ Liti roared at the darkness and took off into the cave. _I will not stop! I will not forget!_ Now she was angry at the perversion of thought that was being pushed upon her, and had been to countless others in the past. Anger wiped away all uncertainty, and gave clarity of purpose, though not an abundance of caution. She’d just have to second guess her plans of action from then on out to make sure that they were actually hers.

_ Take a moment for my eyes to adjust. Move around the rock spikes. Head towards the ominous glow. Give the tendrils a wide berth.  _

_ Go straight for the goal! Show no mercy! No deviations! Destroy them! _

Fueled by her anger, Liti heeded the bad idea for just long enough to run right by what she thought was a simple boulder at first glance, but any reasonable examination would have revealed it to be a slumbering beast to be avoided. By the time she realized her failure, her movement had roused the creature, and it unrolled to reveal itself to be a huge, armored insect, at least three times larger than Liti herself. The Moki tried to put as much distance between herself and the monster as she could, hoping it would just go back to sleep. She would have no such luck, though, as the ground was soon rumbling with rapid, heavy footfalls coming from a multitude of legs. Liti’s keen ears were able to keep track of the noisy creature well enough for her to dive to the side as it barreled past in an attempt to trample her. 

_ That thing is fast! _ Liti noted as she took a defensive stance.  _ But it cannot turn well once moving. _ It took the giant bug a good five seconds to come to a stop and turn itself around once it had missed her, and getting out of the way was simple enough, but Liti quickly realized that she didn’t have the time or stamina to keep up this dance all the way to the end of the cavern.  _ I cannot outrun it, so- _

_ So I will kill it! I will find the abomination’s weak point and skewer it! _

The violent thoughts made Liti sick to her stomach as she intuited their source, but she couldn’t think of a better option at the moment. As much as it pained her to admit it, this was life or death, and a corrupted monster didn’t have a life worth sparing at the moment. As she dodged out of the way of its second charge, she unfastened from her pack the simple spear Zal had crafted for her and gripped it awkwardly in her forepaws. It had been meant to pierce the gelatinous body of the Corrupted Heart from a safe distance, and the body of a Moki was ill-suited to wield almost any sort of effective weapon against a living opponent, but this was her best shot. Liti knew that her knife’s blade wasn’t long enough to strike a vital point through the bug’s carapace, even if she jammed it into the weakest spot she could find, which seemed likely to be the joints that gave the shell a modicum of flexibility for rolling up.

_ Here goes nothing! _ Liti sidestepped a third attack, and spotted what she thought to be an opening as the beast contorted itself to spin and come to a stop. She leapt forward, spear held overhead, and jammed the weapon downward into the gap between two armored plates with every last bit of strength her tiny body could muster. 

The monster roared. 

Liti screamed in kind as the bug’s enormous mandibles clamped down her tail, and flung her through the air with a quick flick of its head. A hard impact with the cave wall knocked the wind out of her lungs and left her seeing stars, but even with all that, the wounded monster continued to make its presence known, shaking the ground as it thrashed. 

_ I will just… lie down for a while… Cannot keep going… _

_ I must finish the fight! I must claim victory! I will tear the Decay to pieces so it cannot hurt anyone ever again! _

In her dazed state, Liti couldn’t even begin to reason out which thoughts were her own anymore. But in the end, it didn’t really matter. One part of her wanted to give up, and another wanted to act. If she gave up, she’d turn to stone. A significant chunk of Niwen would be lost to corruption that would take generations to heal. Zal would have to live with the weight of her failure, and would take it as their own. Action was her only option, even if it killed her. Thus, in the continuing theme of her life as of late, Liti pulled herself to her feet, and began to stagger towards the sounds of the injured bug. Once her vision had cleared, she saw her spear still sticking out of where she had thrust it, purple ichor staining the shaft. All she had to do was get her paws on that again, and she could end this scuffle and get back to what she had come here for in the first place. 

Liti pounced like she was trying to catch a small bird for dinner, managing to land on top of the monster where it couldn’t grab her this time, and latched onto the spear. Almost immediately, the bug took off running at top speed, desperate to shake its former prey off. Unfortunately, this was where Liti’s lack of any sort of plan caught up with her. The spear was wedged in too tight to retrieve, and she lacked the strength and leverage to push it in further. All she could do was tug on it, which only caused her unwilling steed to lean ever so slightly against whatever force she exerted. And that gave her an idea.

_ What if I… _ Liti pulled hard on the spear to the right, which in turn caused the bug to veer left.  _ So if I aim it just right… Jump! _ She leapt off the panicked bug just moments before it crashed headlong into the cave wall. The impact alone obviously wouldn’t be enough to do anything other than daze it, but the spear shaft stuck out towards the front as well, and Liti had just used the wall to drive it the rest of the way in with a sickening splat sound. The beast let out one last pained cry before slumping over, and after a few more seconds, its legs stopped twitching. Liti stood there in silence for a while, breathing heavily while her heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest. It wasn’t until she heard the faint pulsing sound and noticed the ambient glow of the chamber around her that she realized where she’d ended up.

“I made it!” She shouted, her voice echoing all around her. She turned to look at her goal, the disgusting, pulsating, purple mass sitting in the far corner. It was about as large as the now-dead insect had been, but looked infinitely softer and more fragile.  _ Now I just have to get my… spear… _ As Liti’s paw idly swiped at the empty air where the spear had once been tied to her pack, she realized with horror what had just become of her only tool for destroying the Heart. It now lay shattered, most of the pieces embedded in bug-flesh.

_ I can just tear it to pieces with my own claws! Turn it to putrid mush! _

“No, can’t touch that stuff,” Liti muttered, forcing herself to think this through rationally. Even if she wanted to sacrifice herself to destroy the Heart, she’d be a statue long before she did enough damage if she actually got something that concentrated on her body. _ I need some other object large enough to crush or pierce it from a distance, but all I see are… rocks! _ A small spark of hope encouraged the Moki as an idea dawned on her.  _ Chances are slim, but if I am lucky… _ Liti ran for the cave wall, taking care to avoid the vile discharge that had collected around the Heart, and began to climb, footholds being easy enough to find thanks to how cracked and damaged the stone surface was.

The idea was simple. This cavern had already started to fall apart, so it stood to reason that even this still-intact section was unstable. If Liti could dislodge a large enough part of the wall or ceiling right above the Heart, then the falling debris might just crush the pustule and end this. Or it could collapse the whole thing and trap or crush her instead. Either way, it was all she could think of after she’d bungled Plan A. 

Climbing as high as she could, Liti found what she was looking for, or at least she hoped. Hanging from the ceiling was a stalactite just a little larger than she was. It was just out of reach, though, even if Liti were to let go of the wall with both forepaws. She was going to have to jump for it. 

_ I can do this. It is no different than jumping from one tree trunk to another back in the Glades. _

_ I do not stand a chance at making that jump! Do I really want to die that badly? If so, the ground is a much safer place for me to lie down and give up. At least becoming a statue will be painless. _

Liti almost started climbing down. The defeatist thoughts seemed so real and so reasonable, even though as soon as she had given them any additional thought they immediately fell apart. And so she leapt without any more consideration, as taking time to consider things was now the enemy. She twisted herself around in the air before hitting the hanging rock, desperately scrabbling for any purchase her paws could possibly find. The stone surface was slick with water dripping from the ceiling, but one by one she managed to snag her claws in tiny cracks and pores in the rock just enough to keep from sliding off. Her claws were meant for grabbing fish and digging into rough, easy to climb trees, though, not gripping wet stone. They were liable to break or slip at any moment, so there was no room for caution  _ or  _ mistakes. 

_ I have to break this off somehow. _ Liti let go with her left forepaw and began feeling around everywhere she could reach without falling, hoping to find some sort of weakness she could do… something with. She’d figure it out when she found it. If she found it. Unfortunately, she had no such luck anywhere within her reach, and couldn’t spot any visual signs of a weak spot, either. She began the pain-staking action of shimmying sideways, hoping to find  _ anything _ . And she’d almost given up hope and let herself drop when her paw finally caught a long, wide crack at the base of the stalactite, all the way on the opposite side from where she had started.

With her target found, Liti did what any reasonably desperate person would do in her position. She drew her knife from its recently sewn sheath and began jamming the blade into the crack, hoping to wedge it in there and chip something loose. This failed to accomplish anything, but she couldn’t think of anything else. Not with the urge to just drop everything and accept her fate blaring in her mind constantly. So she struck harder. Hard enough to threaten the stability of her already precarious footholds. But it still wasn’t enough. She felt her hind paws begin to slip, and prepared to put all of her strength, determination, and desperation into the final strike.

“Just  _ BREAK ALREADY!”  _ She screamed, twisting her entire torso to jam the knife into the crack with enough force to finally get it to stick, completely dislodging herself from the stone in the process. She hung there for what seemed like an eternity, hind legs flailing as she gripped the knife’s handle in the hopes that she could use her weight to pull the damaged rock apart, but the knife itself gave out first, its blade snapping at the heel from the combined damage of the repeated blows and supporting far more mass than it was ever meant to. Liti and the now bladeless handle fell to the distant ground with a soft whump and a wooden clunk, respectively.

_ I… failed, _ Liti concluded as the pain from the impact wracked her body. In the oddly analytical part of her brain overly used to her injuring herself, she could tell that she had likely broken a few ribs, if the agony anything but the shallowest breaths caused her was any indication. Not that it really mattered at this point. She’d screwed everything up when she could have just stayed out of it and saved everyone the trouble.  _ I am sorry, Zal. Please don’t blame yourself, _ Liti silently pleaded.  _ I- _

**_CRACK_ **

The loud sound reverberated throughout the cave, and in the silence that followed, Liti could have sworn that her own heart skipped twenty beats just to accentuate it. Then, a smaller metallic klink reached Liti’s ears, her knife’s blade bouncing a few times before finally coming to a rest. And just as she managed to intuit exactly what that meant, the stalactite fell into a few large pieces, the combined force of their fall being more than enough to pulverize the Corrupted Heart instantly as they hit the ground, covering the wall with splattered sludge that quickly lost the eerie glow it once had. And with that loss of power, every corrupted creature and piece of stray Decay in the cavern erupted in a simultaneous roar of pain that left Liti’s ears ringing after it finally faded back to silence. 

* * *

“Liti!” Zal’s voice faintly reached the Moki’s ears after an unknown amount of time, but she was in no condition to respond. Even staying awake to hear the Spirit’s approach was difficult. “Please be okay! Please be okay!” The sound of Zal’s footsteps got faster as they noticed Liti’s crumpled form and rushed to her side, only to sigh with relief when they noticed she was still breathing. “You did it,” Zal said in a near-whisper. “Just barely, but you actually did it.” They rested a hand on the Moki’s side, which caused her to weakly cry out in pain. “Sorry! I know you’re banged up, but I have to move you somewhere safe before we can even think of treating those wounds. It’ll take a day or so for the last of the Decay to dissolve and there’s bound to be stragglers until then, so it’s just gonna hurt in the meantime. Let’s get- oh!” Zal stopped for a moment, having noticed something nearby. “Your knife broke,” they noted, gathering the two halves off the cave floor. “Probably in the process of saving the day, huh. We can probably find someone who can fix this. Now hold still and try not to scream. I’m going to have to pick you up and I'm pretty sure it’s going to be _somewhat_ painful.

Liti winced and whimpered as Zal wrapped their arms around her torso and lifted. The Spirit struggled to support the Moki’s weight, but Liti could tell by the odd sliding feeling against her fur that they had shifted into a form more readily capable of carrying her. 

“Zal, I…” Liti croaked, not even caring about the pain the effort caused her anymore. “I am so-”

“ _ Shhh! _ Don’t you  _ dare  _ start apologizing.” Zal’s voice was very low and gravely, indicative of a form Liti hadn’t seen before. “If anything, this is entirely my fault for entertaining this madness in the first place. Just rest, and I’ll get you home.” They plodded along in silence for a while, with Liti drifting in and out of consciousness as she tried to rest, only for the pain of each slight jostle or shift in how Zal was holding her to wake her up. But it was nice for it all to be over. Pain wouldn’t kill her, so all she had to do was wait it out, and everything would be fine. 

At least, that’s what she thought before Zal cried out in pain and Liti suddenly found herself on the ground again. Opening her eyes, Liti could just make out Zal’s glowing form, a rather diminutive Gorlek, on their hands and knees in front of her with multiple purple needles sticking out of their back. The answer of where they came from was quickly answered, as a very large, very spiky, pinkish-purple slug dropped from the cave ceiling and landed practically on top of Zal with a wet plop. 

“Get… off!” Zal struggled to escape the slug’s sticky form, rapidly shifting between a multitude of different shapes in her repertoire, but none of them had the physical strength or characteristics to push or wriggle out from under the creature, even as it was obviously falling apart from the Heart’s destruction. “Liti! Run!” Zal’s plea was rather pointless, though, as Liti wasn’t even able to stand, much less attempt escape. 

That’s when she saw the remains of her knife. 

The handleless blade lay on the ground next to the struggling Spirit, and Liti started crawling towards it, even as the pain of dragging herself along the ground caused black spots to dance across her unfocused vision and nearly caused her to lose consciousness mid-crawl. It was only a tail’s length away, but for her it might as well have been farther than she’d traveled the entire day. But soon she got a paw on the metal scrap and pulled it close. Forelegs trembling, she gripped the blade as tightly as she could, even if it meant she was slicing into her own forepaws to do so, and reared up onto her haunches against the screaming protests of her broken body. 

Liti then screamed herself, in a combination of rage, anguish, and desperation, and drove the broken shard deep into the squishy mass of the enraged slug, burying herself in the thing up to her wrists. For the brief moment before the merciful blackness took her, it felt like she had stuck her paws into a lit bonfire. 

It was a feeling that would haunt her for the rest of her life.


	7. Equal and Opposite

The Elders spoke of the afterlife as joining the Forest’s Light, ceasing to be in the individual sense, but contributing to the greater whole for the rest of time. So why, Liti wondered as vague awareness returned to her, was she still herself? She _was_ dead, right? She certainly wasn’t anywhere physical, at least, seeming to simply exist as just idle thoughts in a void. Not a single one of her senses functioned. Why was she awake? _How_ was she awake? Answers were not forthcoming, but soon she had something more pertinent to think about. 

“ _What are you doing? This one is a lost cause,_ ” said a voice within Liti’s mind, though somehow she could tell the statement wasn’t directed _at_ her. “ _This wound goes beyond flesh or bone or spirit. Beyond our ability to mend._ ” The voice was soft-spoken, but firm, with a confidence that implied much experience. Or, rather, the presence _felt_ that way. These were not sounds being spoken, but feelings being expressed, with a wholly unique texture that seemed to form the “voice” Liti perceived.

“ _We need not mend, only preserve_ ,” replied a second voice, this one far warmer in tone, but with an odd tinge of sadness. “ _She deserves that much._ ”

“ _So you would tinker with her soul? To what end? Even if successful, this merely delays the inevitable, and will doom her to suffer for what limited time you can grant. To let her painlessly fade would be the greater mercy._ ”

“ _Every day I can buy for her is another that a solution may be found._ ”

“ _You are being too sentimental! The protection of Niwen requires sacrifice. It always has, and always will. You, of all beings, should know this. We honor these sacrifices and dedicate ourselves to making sure that they are never in vain. She chose this fate, knowing the risks, and you approved._ ”

“ _And I_ **_will not_ ** _take another choice away from her when it is hers to make!_ ” Palpable anger flashed through the second voice momentarily, like sparks cast from a crackling flame. “S _o I will ask her. Surely you have noticed her eavesdropping by now?_ ”

“ _She only hears because you have connected her._ ”

“ _Every choice needs context, or else it is not a fair one._ ”

There was a pause, the silence filled only by a feeling of mutual annoyance. Not the kind created by genuine malice or antipathy, but rather the kind Liti had seen between two housemates who had been cooped up together for far too long, but through circumstances, stubbornness, or an abundance of affection were unable to part ways. “S _o be it. We must attend to our fledgling Elements. This incident has proven that their strength is not yet enough for us to be complacent in their effectiveness._ ” The presence of the first voice in Liti’s mind seemed to fade. Not vanish, some inkling of that connection remained, but their attention was no longer here.

“ _So, young Liti,_ ” the voice began, now addressing the Moki directly. “ _I offer you a-_ ”

_I accept._

The voice was taken aback by Liti’s interruption, but soon an additional positive feeling was added to their expression. Pride, perhaps? “ _I offer you another choice,_ ” they continued. “ _You may continue a while longer, and we can attempt to save your life in the long term. However, it will be difficult and incredibly pain-_ ”

_I never got to say goodbye. Do it._

“ _Very well._ ” If the voice had a face Liti could see, she would have bet anything that they would be smiling. “ _Arise, Moki of Niwen! Take hold of your fate, and never let it go!_ ” The void itself seemed to fade, though not before the voice added one last comment. “ _And, for the record, I would have done the same._ ”

  
  


* * *

  
  


“ _It is done._ ”

“Liti!” The Moki had no sooner opened her eyes to the blinding Light of the New Tree high above her than a Moki-shaped Zal had pounced, drawing her into a warm, overjoyed embrace. So overjoyed, in fact, that Zal’s happiness seemed to radiate off of them somehow. Liti paid the odd feeling little mind, and began to return the embrace, stopping just short as she simply could not get her paws to work right and grasp one another. In fact, she could not feel her forepaws at all. Zal seemed to realize what Liti was starting to notice and let go, letting Liti touch down on the grassy forest floor with a bizarrely heavy thud. “Oh, Liti…” Zal began, her joy giving way to guilt and regret. “I’m so sorry. There was nothing any of us could do.”

Zal’s apology failed to even register with Liti, though. Her attention was fixated on her stiff, numb paws. They were horribly discolored, her normally bluish-black fur now a dull gray up to just past her ankles, and were fixed at an angle perpendicular to her legs, unable to be moved. 

“You saved us by stabbing that Decay-beast,” Zal explained, “but your paws were soaked in its remains doing so. By the time I could get you back here so the Tree could try and heal you, they had already…”

“Turned to stone.” The reality hitting her had numbed far more than her paws, so she just stared for a long while. Zal opened their mouth to speak more than once, but failed to find the words. A very conflicted and unsure feeling just rolled off of them. “How long do I have?” Liti finally asked, her voice eerily dead-calm. 

“H-how long?” Zal stammered.

“I was told that I was only bought a bit of time.”

“Told?”

“ _There is no way of knowing, I’m afraid,_ ” said the now familiar voice, echoing within Liti’s mind. Judging by Zal’s reaction and where she turned, the Moki was able to intuit the source: the New Tree themselves. “ _T_ _he physical component of Decay is not well understood, and has no cure that we are aware of once it has set in. Left unabated, it will spread and corrupt until the being it infects is no more than lifeless stone._ ”

“No… I-” Zal was on the verge of breaking down, and their despair was infectious, causing Liti to tear up even as she focused on the Tree’s words. “I thought it was over…”

“ _Our Light Was able to halt the spread and render the Decay unable to infect others when it healed her other, more conventional wounds. She will not turn to stone. However, that protection comes at a grave cost. Light encourages life and heals, but only a Spirit is meant to hold that Light within them indefinitely. An otherwise Lightless body will eventually… burn up, like spent fuel in a fire, or a pot of water that has boiled dry. The greater the Light one is exposed to, the quicker that occurs. The small bit of Light I have imbued her with sustains her, but will eventually end her, should a solution not be found._ ”

“A... solution?” Zal asked, emitting a spark of hope. 

“ _It is not out of the realm of possibility. I must meditate on this and consult with Seir, once they are not... otherwise occupied,_ ” the Tree said. “ _The Memory of the Forest is long and storied, but drawing out obscure details from it is difficult for one as young as I._ ”

“You? Young?” Liti cocked her head, drawing a confused look from Zal. “Are you not the oldest being in Niwen?” 

“ _Youth is relative, little one._ ” The Tree almost seemed amused by the question. “ _By the standards of a Spirit Tree, I am still but a sapling with much to learn, and the Light of the Wisps I am host to is far more ancient that even they themselves can comprehend._ ”

“I’m sorry, can we back up for a moment?” Zal interjected, wiping the tears from their eyes. “Liti, you can _hear them?_ ”

“...Yes? I guess I did not think about it.”

“ _By the strictest definition, Zal, Liti is no longer entirely Lightless,_ ” the Tree explained. “ _Until her affliction is dealt with, she will share in our bond, same as any of your siblings. This includes the empathic connection, as I’m sure you have noticed._ ”

“I… see.” Zal looked at Liti with a very strange mix of concern and even more confusion. 

“ _Now, I must take my leave. If we’re to solve this, we will need to dedicate time to formulate a plan. You two have earned a rest in the meantime, and Liti will need help adjusting to her condition. You will know immediately when I have found anything of use._ ” 

“Thank you… Tree?” Liti chewed on the form of address as she said it. It felt like such an impersonal title for someone so integrated into her very being as of now. 

“ _I have not gone by a more… personal name in quite some time,_ ” the Tree said, sensing Liti’s apprehension, “ _but I’m not opposed to being addressed as ‘Ori,’ were it to make you more comfortable._ ”

“Thank you, Ori,” Liti repeated with the adjustment, and Ori’s presence faded, their attention moving elsewhere. Then she just sat there, unsure of what to do. 

“L-Liti?” Zal said after a while, breaking the silence.

“Yes?”

“Are you... okay?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t lie to me, Liti.”

“I am fine, Zal,” Liti said, meeting her friends' concerned stare with a disconcertingly blank look. “Better than fine, even. Nothing hurts, and I feel like I have gotten the best sleep of my life.”

“But you’re not feeling _anything!_ ” Zal cried out. “I know you can tell what _I’m_ feeling. The Light in you ensures that. But when I look at you... all I feel is a faint echo of my own emotions, like they’re being shouted in an empty cave. The moment you realized what happened to you… you…” Tearing up again, Zal crept up to her friend and tenderly lifted one of her stone paws in her own. “It’s okay to feel sad. To cry. To mourn.”

“I am _not_ sad, though,” Liti said, withdrawing her paw and examining it more closely. “This is bad, but I am alive. We can fix this.”

“Then be _angry!_ ” Zal shouted, grasping Liti’s shoulders like they were about to shake her. “Be angry at _me!_ This is all _my fault!_ ”

“Zal, _you_ are angry at you. I am not.” At that, Zal let go of Liti, her insight catching them off guard. “I think I will go for a walk by myself. We both have a lot to think about.”

“You sure you can walk around like... that?”

“I have to figure it out sometime, or else I will never get anywhere.” Liti stood and took her first awkward steps on inanimate feet. What was immediately obvious was that one does not think of how important one’s ankles bending properly is to the process of walking and running until it is taken away. It felt like when she was a pup and would stiffly march to mockingly imitate a passing Gorlek mining crew, who moved as if they were going off to war. Except she _had_ to do it now. Still, she could walk, albeit slowly. Taking one last look at her distraught friend, Liti hobbled off deeper into the valley.

Leaving Zal’s proximity was bizarrely calming, and Liti eventually realized that being able to feel their intense negative emotions, however distantly, was not healthy for her. It made the prospect of comforting them in their time of need all the more difficult, which was frustrating. Another issue to add to the pile. Liti’s aimless limping eventually brought her by the Spirit Well, and she wondered if she could use it now without puking her guts out.

 _These Wells are all connected, right? If I wanted to, I could hop on that and go back to the Glades for a few hours just to let them know I am okay. I have been gone for way longer than I intended, and I never told anyone I was leaving in the first place…_ Without thinking, Liti idly placed a forepaw on the platform to climb on it, only for the high-pitched clink of stone on stone to cause her to flinch and set her foot back down. “I am not okay, though,” she whispered to remind herself. She couldn’t help but wonder what the other Moki would think of her now. Would she be praised for her heroism? _Not likely,_ she concluded. Shamed for violating the Elders’ decrees? _Almost certainly._ Pitied for her crippling deformity?

Horrific, debilitating injury was rare in the Glades, especially with the Spirit Light from the Well capable of healing the worst of it should the need arise. But on rare occasions, through an obscure disease or an unusually catastrophic accident, the rapid healing of the Light would set the injury wrong and leave the victim with reduced mobility or stamina. These Moki were always well cared for by the community if they could not care for themselves, as was tradition dating back to the very dawn of their oral history. But just because one is provided for does not mean they are loved. The Elders spoke of them as examples of How Not To Be. Monuments to the perils of foolishness that a “good” Moki should strive to avoid. Perils that Liti had always ignored to their perpetual and resentful consternation. 

_If I were to go back now, I would only prove them right. I would be another example to teach the pups not to stray out of line._ Liti thought back to Zal’s reaction to the Elders’ teachings on Spirits and the Tree, and how things had apparently not always been this way. _They are wrong about so many things. I will not give them the satisfaction of thinking they are not. Either I come back as an example of a better way, or I do not come back at all. Even if it means that none of them will ever know where I went…_

And that’s when it hit her. She had been so caught up in the prospect of finding a new purpose in life, that she had been blind to the fact that doing so would require abandoning her old life altogether. It wasn’t something she could have just indulged in on a passing flight of fancy. And now she’d gone and sprinted over the point of no return without a second thought. The carefree Liti who went fishing in the Luma Pools and played games with the local pups and idly daydreamt of magnificent and happy adventures was gone. She might as well have died. And if someone had died, then finally, Liti had someone to mourn. 

She curled up in the grass with her back to the glowing Well, crying tears that now rightfully belonged to her. Her stone paws gouged small grooves into the dirt and she adjusted her legs in an attempt to get comfortable, but physical comfort never came. Even as she wept for her loss, though, her desire to set things right only started to burn brighter. She would mourn, cry her tears, and then solve the problems she faced, she decided. For her sake, and for Ori and Zal’s, and for all the Moki trapped in the web of constricting lies she had escaped. Through her tears, Liti managed to crack a smile. 

If the Elders thought she was trouble before, then they had no idea what they were in for. 


	8. Duality

Somehow, despite her situation, Liti felt more energized and motivated than ever. So much so that she tripped more than once trying to run back to where she had left Zal before giving up on that kind of movement for the moment. Still, things might be serious, but that just meant that now was the time for action more than ever. Ori wasn’t the only one capable of seeking old knowledge, after all. 

“Hey, Zal, do you have a moment?” Liti called as she reentered Ori’s grove. “I have an idea!” No one answered, and Liti wondered if Zal had gone for a walk as well.  _ They were pretty upset when I left. I know I wouldn’t have sat still for long if I were them. _ However, she was able to spot Zal almost immediately, as they had rooted themselves in the soil at the far end of the clearing in the form of a small, flowering shrub. “Zal?” Liti approached the Spirit, who still did not respond. What was most worrying, though was that Liti couldn’t “feel” anything from them. Their emotions had been thick in the air when she left, but now it was just like they weren’t even there at all. And that connection obviously still worked, since Ori’s presence in close proximity was still quite heavy in the back of Liti’s mind. “...Zal…?” Liti slowly reached out and touched the glowing white shrub, which visibly recoiled before shifting back into a Moki. 

“Oh, hello,” Zal said in an almost sleepy tone. Liti still couldn’t sense the slightest hint of anything from them. “Sorry, I took a form without eyes or ears to cut out distractions and think better. I guess I lost track of time.” And then, as suddenly as the striking of a match, Zal’s emotions dramatically flared to life, a wide, toothy smile spreading across their muzzle. “How was your walk? Feeling any better?”

“Yes, but…” Liti began unsure of how to word the question. “Did you… do something?”

“Oh, it’s that obvious, huh?” Zal rubbed a paw behind their head sheepishly before extending her other paw and opening it revealing the softly glowing crystal she had been grasping tightly. 

“My Spirit Shard?” Liti asked. “You figured out what it does?”

“Yeah, I had plenty of time while you were getting your wounds and… other issue dealt with.”

“And?”

“It grants ‘clarity,’” Zal explained, “suppressing all emotions and enhancing your perceptions, allowing you to think and plan with maximum efficiency. It automatically triggers when the bearer is in mortal peril, but I figured out how to do it manually if I really need to.” The Spirit chuckled softly. “It’s been kinda a life saver since you were, well…”

“I understand, I think,” Liti said. “And that  _ does  _ explain some things…”

“Do you… want it back?” Zal asked, holding the Shard out further. “It’s your good luck charm, after all, and I did promise you could have it back once I figured it out and you were out of immediate danger.”

“Keep it,” Liti answered, pushing Zal’s paw back with her stone one. “You are the one who can make the most use of it, and letting it assist you can help us make our own luck.”

“Thanks…” Zal slipped the pendant over their head and let it rest against their breast, their feelings of gratitude managing to improve Liti’s already optimistic mood. 

“Now, I have a question for you,” Liti said, moving back to her original point. “Do you know how to read?”

* * *

  
  


“This is a heck of a long shot, Liti, you know that, right?” Zal gracefully hopped off the destination Well and turned to assist Liti, who wasn’t nearly as sick as the first time she had traveled by Spirit Well, but was still a little woozy nonetheless. 

“I would take a thousand low-risk long shots if it meant not sitting around and waiting for someone else to solve my problems,” Liti said, shaking her head and accepting Zal’s Spirit-form hand in climbing down. 

“Fair point. Second question: Do you know where we’re going?”

“...Somewhat.” Liti began hobbling away from the platform and took a look around where they had arrived. The Wellspring was the bottleneck through which most of the water in Niwen flowed eastward, and the great mill where the pair now stood was what facilitated this. If it’s ancient mechanisms were to stop, the waters of much of the forest would eventually stagnate and turn foul. But the water wasn’t why they were here. As a pup, Liti had heard tell of an old library in the mill, stocked with numerous tomes of knowledge by whatever ancient engineers built the wondrous structure. If anything in Niwen other than the Tree had any information on Decay, it’d be here. The mill was huge, though, and it might take a while to locate the-

“Found it!” Zal called, having wandered away from the Well in the opposite direction of Liti. “Turns out sensible architecture exists in at least  _ some  _ part of this place. I wonder if whoever built this only ever intended to use the Well to get in here. Were they Spirits themselves?”

“I did not know you ever traveled this far west of the Silent Woods. You always came off as a…” Liti trailed off as she joined Zal in the library, deciding far too late that what she was thinking could potentially come off as an insult. 

“A what?”

“Kind of a… homebody?” 

The assessment hung in the air for a few awkward seconds before the two of them erupted in simultaneous laughter. Neither of them were sure which of them initially found it funny before the feeling spread, but it didn’t really matter at that point. 

“S… sorry!” Liti said in between gasps for air. “I did not think that through!”

“No, you’re pretty spot-on, actually,” Zal responded, lightly patting the Moki on the back. “I tend to the Tree and the surrounding growth pretty much all the time, and never really felt the need to go anywhere else. It’s just that the weird layout of this place kinda stuck with me after I experienced Ori’s memory of it years ago.”

“Oh?”

“It was a… complicated time for them,” Zal said, suddenly feeling rather sullen. “Ori was lost and desperate and afraid. They just wanted to save their sister and return to a happier life, but they already knew that they couldn’t turn their back on Niwen’s suffering, and that even if they could reunite their family, their duty would be far from over.”

“Ah…” Liti didn’t have anything comforting to say to that, no matter how much she wanted to.

“But this mill, and the experience of climbing it, was… beautiful! Despite the dire situation, the vibrant mosses and spinning wheels and the feeling of rocketing across and between them with ease and grace… Ori uses those memories to teach us about the duality of life, and how even in the darkest of times, it’s important to find joy where and when you can.” Zal was audibly choked up, and embarrassment crept in and mixed in with their secondhand wonder and nostalgia as they felt Liti’s sympathy. “Sorry, it’s not exactly an easy thing to understand, and now I’m just rambling. I didn’t expect this place to set me off like that…”

“Do not be,” Liti said, meeting Zal’s gaze intently. “I… actually understand that feeling extremely well, believe it or not.”

“You do?”

“Before these last few days, my life was very empty and meaningless, but running and hunting and swimming and just finding fun in exciting movement kept me going. If I were as swift and agile as the legends say Ori was, I am not sure I could ever be truly miserable.”  _ And I may never be able to move like that again… _ Even leaving her last thought unsaid failed to hide what she was getting at from Zal, who swiftly yanked on one of Liti’s legs and pulled her towards a nearby bookshelf. 

“Okay, enough reminiscing, let’s get to searching! I’ll search the higher shelves, and you scan the lower ones for any interesting titles. Give me a shout if you spot anything, and I’ll pull it to read.” Zal shifted into a hummingbird and began systematically flitting from spine to spine, the form being perfect for rapid, stop-and-go movement. Liti also noted that this was probably the smallest creature she had ever seen them become, and wondered what exactly the lower limit on their size actually was. 

“Oooookay,” Liti whispered as she approached the leftmost book on the bottom shelf. “L… Le… Leaves?” she whispered, squinting as she sounded out the first word in the title. She had been taught to read as a pup, but was incredibly out of practice, to say the least. The Elders had a vested interest in being able to pass their all-important wisdom down to potential successors and the studious, and so literacy among the Moki of the Glades was very important to them. However Liti had never had any interest in elective study, so the only things she ever purposefully read were the old, weathered signposts placed about the forest’s winding roads to help travelers. It certainly didn’t help that she had to tilt her head at an angle to read the faded, weathered script. “Leaves of the Fr… Fruited Vine?” _ What kind of title is that? _

And that was the way it went for quite a while. Zal had finished looking at the top two shelves of books by the time Liti had finished four on hers, so the Spirit perched on top of the shelves to rest as Liti finished. 

“You, uh, doin’ okay, there?” they asked, having shifted into a raven. 

“I do not… read often,” Liti replied, having finally finished her sixth book. 

“You don’t say?” Zal chuckled. “You wanna know something silly? Before today, the closest I’d ever come to reading something was remembering someone else doing so.”

“That  _ is _ silly.” Liti smiled and continued to mouth titles in silence for a few more minutes before that smile faded and she thumped a stone paw on the ground in frustration. “This is going nowhere! Everything on this shelf is just about plants, or poems, or poems  _ about plants! _ ” 

“Maybe we can ask someone more familiar with the library for help, then?” Zal proposed. “These books are incredibly well-maintained for something that had been sitting abandoned generations ago.  _ Someone _ must have taken up the task of preserving them in the meantime.”

“That would be Elder Kald from my village. Her great grandfather became a librarian after apprenticing under the warrior-scholar who rediscovered the archive back in Ori’s time.”

“Great! We can just take a short Well-trip and enlist her! Shouldn’t take more than a few-”

“No!” Liti’s panicked interjection caused Zal to cringe. “No, well, I mean- I-”

“Sorry, I… should have thought that through,” Zal said. “Obviously your relationship with your village is… complicated, now more than ever.”

Liti took a deep breath and calmed herself. “What I  _ mean _ is that  _ we _ should not go.  _ You  _ go alone and get the help we need. I will stay here and hide in a corner when you return with the Elder, and she will never know that I was involved. Just… lie about why you are looking for information, if you have to.” She stared at the ground in shame at the idea of this kind of duplicity, but she knew that the shame of the Elders knowing what had happened to her would be far greater and more damaging. “...Please?”

“Of course,” Zal said without the slightest hint of judgement or shame of their own. They flew back down to the Well and shifted into the Spirit form they had first shown Liti. “I’ll be back soon, okay?” Then, with a smile and a wave, they vanished.

Liti wandered out of the library, stepping out onto an open air balcony and sitting down. A huge expanse of very familiar forest and marsh stretched out before her. She couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that just a few short days ago, she’d had a mildly bloody battle with her dinner in one of those pools right below her, and that  _ that  _ had been the most exciting thing to happen to her in ages. It felt like a different lifetime. But still, she was lucky to have this second chance at all. She had been prepared to die when she ran into that cave, and maybe she had, in a sense, but even if she had known her fate ahead of time, she still would have done it. There was so much precious life in this world, and as far as she was concerned, all of it was more precious than her.

If only she could convince Zal to see her the same way. No one deserved to suffer on her behalf, after all. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


A Spirit needs a personal connection on some level with a particular Well to travel there. A distant memory, or at least a strong association, could do in a pinch. As such, traveling to this specific Spirit Well was essentially effortless for Zal, though through no doing of their own. The Wellspring Glades was another place with incredibly happy memories tied to it. Even only having experienced snippets of those here or there as their parents related various tales over the years, the Spirit’s second-hand connection with the village was more than strong enough to do the job. 

Almost immediately upon arrival in the Glades, Zal’s ears were assaulted by a cacophony of chittering, excited voices. The extravagance of their entrance and the radiance of their visage had the Moki in the immediate vicinity of the Well awestruck, and the crowd of onlookers grew larger by the minute. 

“Who is it?”

“Where did they come from?”

“What are they?”

“They glow!”

“Pretty lights!”

Zal opened their mouth to speak, but no words came out. A strange, unfamiliar feeling gripped them, rooting them in place. They could feel every single one of the dozens of eyes upon them, as if they were drilling into their very being, and the torrent of voices felt like it was closing in like walls to crush them. They had to do something to deal with the panic, but the panic itself made it too hard to think. They had to-

And then everything was fine. The panic was gone, and Zal immediately recognized that the panic attack had been brought on by being thrust into a crowd without preparing themselves, as they had never been the center of attention for more than one or two people at once in her life. Their second realization was that they had managed to grasp Liti’s Spirit Shard entirely on reflex, explaining their sudden mental shift.

“Please, everyone!” Zal shouted above the crowd, releasing their grip on the Shard and raising their hands to try and garner their undivided attention as they did so. Thankfully, it only needed to be on their person to continue functioning, so Zal retained that vital clarity as they attempted to wrangle the excited mob. “I am Zal, Guardian Spirit of Niwen! I come seeking the assistance of one of your Elders, can any of you take me to them?”

“That will be most unnecessary, radiant one,” said a raspy voice from within the crowd, and immediately all chatter ceased. The Moki parted to reveal a solitary figure plodding towards the Well. He had graying, frizzy fur and crooked tail, indicative of advanced age. Despite this, he walked with a strong, confident stride. “I am Graz, Elder of this humble village. If you follow me, we may speak in private, away from the chatter and excitement.”

“Thank you, please lead the way.” Graz turned and walked away, motioning for Zal to follow. As the two exited the crowd, none of the onlooking Moki came after them, quietly returning to what they were doing before instead. It was very clear that this Elder commanded a great deal of power and respect if he was able to quell the excitement and curiosity of that many Moki with his mere presence. Still no longer being swarmed meant that it was safe to deactivate the Shard.  _ It’s a shame this thing is so energy hungry, though. Negotiating would be so much easier without nerves getting in the way. A lot of things are, really. _

The feeling of their emotions snapping back to them was somewhat familiar by this point, though that didn’t make it any less weird. The Shard seemed to create a sort of stopper effect, meaning that for a split second upon deactivation, they felt every emotion they would have felt had it not been active all at once. This flash was so short as to not do anything but cause them to reflexively cringe and feel like their heart had skipped a beat, but it was quite unpleasant nonetheless. 

“Right this way, if you would,” Graz said as the pair arrived at a wooden building that was a fair bit larger than the others, and seemingly of much studier construction as well. A very awestruck younger Moki stood guard outside the door, and she quickly bowed out of the way so they could enter. “Zaka, we are not to be disturbed unless it is an emergency, understood?” the Elder said to the guard as they passed, and she nervously nodded. Once inside, Zaka closed the door behind them, finally leaving the two alone. “I apologize for the lack of solid seating. We don’t often entertain two-legged guests. Still, the cushions on the floor are quite comfortable, I assure you. Feel free to make yourself at home.”

“Thanks…” Zal walked over to what they assumed was one of the pillows in question and sat down, resisting the instinct to shift into a more comfortable form for it.  _ Don’t want to show more cards than I have to. _ Graz’s home was quite cozy and surprisingly well-lit, despite the lack of windows in the main living area. A few wall-mounted oil lamps put out more than enough light and cast the room in very warm hues, showing off quite the collection of various trinkets and knicknacks from all over Niwen lining various shelves. There were even a few books that seemed likely to have originated from the library they had just left. Still, none of this put the Spirit even the slightest bit at ease. 

Graz was a name Zal very much recognized. This was the Elder who Liti said had pushed the Moki away from them and their entire family. Who was responsible for their years of physical isolation. Who apparently placed them upon such a high pedestal that he considered himself and the Moki he led to be beneath them and not worthy of their attention or notice. And yet he didn’t give off a vibe even remotely indicative of that in Zal’s presence. He was respectful, certainly, but it was respect given with an air of confidence that could only come with certainty that one was in control. Either he did not practice what he preached, or he was so absurdly stoic that nothing would ever visibly surprise or phase him. No one with either of those attributes was someone to be trusted, in Zal’s opinion. 

“Would you like a cup of tea?” Graz asked, walking over to the kettle hanging over a smoldering hearth. “I had just finished brewing this when I heard the commotion your sudden arrival had caused and went to investigate.” 

“No, thank you.”

“Of course. I’m sure you came aIl this way for something far more important than simple refreshments.” After carrying the kettle over to the low table in the center of the room and pouring himself a cup, Graz sat opposite of Zal and put on a very genuine-seeming smile. “I believe I was but an understudy to my long-passed mentor the last time the Glades were graced with the presence of a Spirit. They were one of the very first to be born from The New Tree, if I recall. Anu was their name. They looked nearly identical to you, though they carried themselves differently enough that I can only assume that you are not one and the same.”

Zal shifted nervously.  _ He’s perceptive. Unnervingly so. _ “That is correct. Anu is my brother, and he and I have always been told we look quite alike.”

“It must be nice, having someone close who is so similar, especially when you and the rest of your siblings are usually all so different and unique!” Graz’s smile widened. Nothing about his tone or mannerisms indicated even the slightest hint of duplicity or insincerity, but the fact that he had somehow zeroed in on something Zal wasn’t remotely eager to share in just this short exchange filled Zal with a sort of dread they had never experienced before. “But that is neither here nor there. How can we Moki be of assistance to you, Guardian?”

“I seek a particularly… elusive piece of information,” Zal said, picking their words carefully. “I know of the ancient library in the Wellspring, but it is far too large and dense for me to find what I am looking for in a timely manner. I’ve heard tell that one of the Moki here maintains those archives, though, and thought that they might be more easily able to find what I am looking for, assuming it exists.”

“Ah! Of course. You seek our librarian, Takk.”

“Takk?” Zal reflexively repeated in confusion.  _ Liti said that the librarian was an Elder named Kald, didn’t she? _

“Yes, Takk, apprentice to my fellow Elder, Kald. Have you heard his name somewhere before? Or were you expecting… someone else?” The pause in Graz’s last question seemed to hang in the air like a waiting blade, before its conclusion came crashing down with his very clear indication that he knew Zal was hiding an important source of information. And still he smiled that same warm smile and did not push the question. Clearly he didn’t need to. “In any case, I will have Zaka fetch Takk at once, and then the two of you can set out for the mill. He is very familiar with the path, so you should make it before the sun sets if you leave at once. Go and wait at the western gate to the village, I will have him meet you there.”

“Thank you, Elder Graz, your assistance is much appreciated.” Zal stood to leave and made for the door, eager to get out into the open air and away from the Elder’s unwavering gaze. 

“By the way,” Graz said just as Zal reached for the door handle, “that is a lovely Spirit Shard you are wearing. They are quite the rare find, and always very precious to whoever does hold one. It would do you well to take  _ very _ good care of it.”

“I will,” Zal said, the Shard flaring to flickering to life that very second to prevent them from panicking and doing something they, or Liti, would regret. And they kept the shard active the entire way to the gate Graz had told them to go to, and even for a few minutes afterward. But suppressing their emotions did nothing to halt the logical conclusion that they would have otherwise been desperate to ignore. 

Graz had won a duel Zal didn’t even know they were fighting, and it would be Liti who would suffer the consequences. 


	9. What We Do Without Shadows

“Okay. Okay, okay, okay. It’s okay. We’re okay.” Zal paced back and forth at the west gate to the Wellspring Glades, muttering to themselves. “Just think this through. Graz knows Liti is with me, somehow. What’s the worst case scenario?” 

“Um, Miss Spirit?” 

“She gets shunned? Banished, even? But then why was he playing so coy about it? Just to mess with me? What game is he even playing?”

“ _ EXCUSE ME, MISS SPIRIT? _ ” The shout finally managed to grab Zal’s attention, startling them out of their panicked, spiraling thoughts. “I am s-sorry to disturb you,” the new Moki said meekly, as if to compensate for his previous outburst. “I am T-t-t-”

“Takk, right?” 

Takk nodded vigorously. “I did not want to trouble you when you seemed so troubled already, but we should leave for the library now if we want to still have daylight to read by when we arrive.” 

“Right.” Zal gave Takk a once-over. Jet-black fur with a gray underbelly and tail, a few shades darker than the average Moki overall. What was more striking, though, was that he was  _ small. _ Liti was fairly young, from what Zal could gather, but Takk seemed younger still, practically a pup.  _ No wonder he’s so nervous. Can he really be a librarian? _ “Let’s get a move on, then!”

“Y-yes ma’am!”

Zal sighed. “Please don’t call me that. I’m not a ‘miss’ or a ‘ma’am.’”

“Oh! Sorry, si-”

“And I’m not a ‘sir,’ either!”

“I-I-” Takk stammered. “Sorry! I did not know! I will need to think of another title…”

“My name’s Zal,” the Spirit said with a gentle smile. “You don’t need to be so formal. You’re a friend doing me a favor, so we get to be on a real-name basis, okay, Takk?”

“...Really?”

“Really!” Zal patted the young Moki on the back, causing him to flinch. “Now, you will have to lead the way. I’ve never actually walked this road before, so I’d be hopelessly lost.”  _ Of course, I could probably just spot the Wellspring from the air to get my bearings, but showing off my abilities seems like an even worse idea now than it did earlier. The kid could use the confidence boost, anyway.  _

“Okay, this way!” Takk took off running out of the village, and Zal had to sprint just to keep up. Zal’s agility was always relative to the abilities of whatever form they took, never  _ quite  _ matching up to the potential of the original creature, and Anu had never been all that fleet-footed. And even among all of their family, only a Spirit specifically gifted in mobility like Ori had once been could keep up with the average Moki. 

“You don’t… have to… run that fast!” Zal gasped, and Takk skidded to a stop, only barely stopping himself from tumbling head over heels. 

“Sorry! I am so sorry!” Takk zoomed back over to Zal. “I made another bad assumption, but I am just so  _ excited _ !” He hopped around to prove his point, and Zal couldn’t help but notice that his stutter seemed to be gone. 

“Surely you must run errands to the library for the Elders all the time.”

“Yes, but now I am  _ friends _ with a  _ Spirit! _ A radiant, divine being! I get to be important and help the forest!”

Zal groaned and buried their head in their hands, causing Takk’s ears to droop. 

“Did I… do something wrong?”

“No, not you.” Zal flashed a reassuring smile.  _ Just someone I’d rather not talk about within earshot of the village, is all.  _ “Let’s walk and talk. Emphasis on  _ ‘walk.’” _

  
  


* * *

  
  


“I… do not get it,” Takk said as the pair plodded along. “Are you saying the Elders… lied?”

“I’m… not sure, to be honest.” Zal scratched their chin. “From the way you spoke of Kald, she may very well believe that my family is divine in some way. Perhaps most of the other Elders too. But  _ Graz… _ ” Even just saying the name made Zal uneasy. That one short conversation had the most uncomfortable experience they could remember short of those they cared about being in mortal peril, and it was just the two of them  _ talking. _ “That Moki knows  _ exactly _ what he is doing. I saw how everyone reacted to him speaking. He has your whole village under his paw, doesn’t he?”

“Elder Graz is the wisest Moki alive!” Takk shot back indignantly. “Outsiders from other villages and even the spiders of Mouldwood come seeking his guidance!”

“He certainly  _ knows _ a lot,” Zal said.  _ Almost more than is realistically possible... _ “But I’m standing here as proof that either he has no idea what he’s talking about when it comes to certain matters, or he’s deliberately misleading you. The second option seems far more likely, all things considered.” 

Takk stopped walking and sighed heavily, ears and tail sagging. “I... I know.”

“You do?”

“I did not want to believe it. Elder Graz has kept us safe and happy since before even my parents were born. But I have… learned things that I simply ignored. Because it was  _ easy! _ ” Takk stomped on the dirt path with a hindpaw out of frustration, and began marching forward with a much more determined stride. “Kald is a  _ fool! _ ” he shouted, dispensing with the Elder’s title and all pretense of respect. “She tends to all those books, but she does not  _ read them! _ All she does is fetch what Graz wants. I have been training to replace her, as her eyesight is failing with age, and so I read as much as can. At first it was to impress them, but now it just makes me happy. Or it did.”

“Takk…”

“Did you know that there are books in that library dating back to when the Willow was young? There are the texts about plants and animals and rocks and the weather. Valuable for building a village. But then there are the  _ stories. _ Tales of heroes and love and tragedy and triumph. Tales that I would be scolded for reading because they weren’t useful and would ‘put bad ideas in my head.’” Takk sped up to a brisk trot.

_ That certainly explains the expanded vocabulary,  _ Zal noted. “Takk, I think we need to-”

“Well, they were half right! Do you want to know what those ‘bad ideas’ are? The ideas that I kept ignoring because I was afraid of them? The idea that Moki can be  _ strong! _ Of course, there are tales of Spirits, but there are tales of  _ everyone _ in Niwen, and even those from beyond it! Young, old, radiant, lightless,  _ anyone _ could be the hero of their own story. But the Elders tell us that we are weak and need protection! That without their wisdom we would be lost and vulnerable! That the brave are foolish and deserve all the ill that befalls them! That-”

“ _ Takk! _ ” Zal’s shout halted the Moki’s rant just long enough for them to slam Liti’s Spirit Shard onto his back, its glow doubling in intensity as the eerie calm overcame the two of them and brought their running to a halt.

“Oh, so that is what that does,” Takk said, taking it all in stride. 

“I understand your anger, believe me, but letting it get out of control will only lead to you doing something you’ll regret. Especially when it’s your whole life in your village on the line.” Zal deactivated the Shard, the strain of extending its influence to someone else already getting to them, and Takk cringed as the last of his anger briefly flared up. “You’ve… been holding all that in for a long time, haven’t you?”

Takk sank to the ground, defeated. “Bad things happen to Moki who defy the Elders. It is always an ‘accident,’ but it is disturbingly consistent and only seems to happen to those the Elders hold in contempt for one reason or another. That contempt never goes away even after they are healed. Some never fully recover. We are told that it is the natural consequence of disregarding their guidance, but once you see the pattern…”

“You don’t dare step out of line,” Zal finished, and Takk nodded.  _ He’s more than smart enough to realize what is going on, but he doesn’t have the ability or influence to do anything about it. That kind of stress would completely wreck a normal person after a while, and he’s so young… _

“Things might be getting worse, too. Liti just up and vanished without a trace a little while back, and I overheard Graz complaining about her on more than one occasion. They have never…  _ disappeared  _ a Moki before, but…” Zal perked up at the mention of Liti, and Takk immediately took notice. “Do you… know something?”

“I…” Zal struggled with the decision before them.  _ Do I tell him? This isn’t my secret to give out on a whim. But he already suspects something, and it’s not like he can tell anyone anything Graz likely doesn’t already know. And it will set his mind at ease… _ Zal gripped the Spirit Shard for a moment, making sure they were being as objective as possible, and then smiled warmly as the despondent Takk. “I believe I have some good news for you, actually.”

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Liti couldn’t shake the pit in her stomach. She knew Zal would be fine, and with how revered Spirits were, they’d have no trouble securing the assistance they were looking for. But she had nothing left to do but worry, having run out of activities she was physically capable of doing. Couldn’t climb to another floor or open a book without functioning forepaws, after all. And until she was fixed, she wouldn’t be able to do much of anything, ever. 

_ And there’s a good chance that I will die like this… _ Liti shook her head and dismissed the thought. She’d bounce back from this. Any other outcome wasn’t worth considering. And thankfully, the boredom that led to these thoughts was quickly coming to an end, as she began to sense just the faintest inkling of Zal’s presence, though they were approaching far faster than Liti would have anticipated. Scrambling to her feet, Liti dashed as quickly as she could manage behind a nearby bookcase, her stone paws making loud clunking noises on the hardwood floor as she did so. And no sooner had she concealed herself than Zal flew in the open window for a very rough landing, their feathered form rolling across the floor and tossing their fuzzy cargo a short distance away. 

“That… was…  _ amazing! _ ” the Moki pup exclaimed, quickly jumping to his feet and running over to the much slower to recover Zal. “I cannot believe you can transform like that! How fast can you change? Does it feel strange? Can you-”

“Not now, Takk,” Zal said, raising a wing to shush their companion, exuding an odd mix of annoyance and bemused endearment. “It would take hours to explain all the intricacies of my gift, and we have more pressing matters to attend to.”

_ Takk? _ Liti wondered, confused.  _ The Elders sent the apprentice to help a Spirit? Kald would have been overjoyed at the opportunity… _

“Right, of course!” Takk said. “We have to help Liti!”

“ _ What?! _ ” Liti’s shout echoed throughout the library as she stumbled out from her cover. “You told them? Even after I asked you not to? How am I supposed to-”

“Liti!” The older Moki’s scolding was cut off by Takk latching onto her in an affectionate embrace. “Thank the Light you are okay! I was so afraid that the Elders had… disposed of you.”

“I- uh, no? Why would they have…”

“I only told the little one here once it was clear that there was more going on than either of us had suspected,” Zal explained. “Besides, he's a bright kid, and I think he’ll be able to do more to help if he’s aware of the full breadth of the situation on our end.”

“Of course. The… situation…” Liti sank back onto her haunches and inspected a forepaw for what seemed like the millionth time. “I am sorry you have to see me like this.”

“...Does it hurt?”

“Not currently, but I have a feeling that that will not be the case forever.” Liti sighed, and stared at the ground in shame. “I am sure that you think less of me now. I was reckless, but I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had to.”

“I know, and… I think I admire that!” Takk beamed at Liti, who could only stare back in shock and confusion. “I know I never spoke to you much before all of this, I was constantly warned by Kald not to associate with you at all. But the more I read from these books, the more I felt I… understood you? You just wanted to take control of your own destiny, and then you did! Even when it cost you, it cost you on your own terms! I always found the stories where the hero saves the day unscathed to be rather boring, anyway. It is something I am sure Graz would never understand.”

Zal tensed up at the mention of the Elder’s name, the change in posture being obvious enough the Liti would have noticed even without their empathic connection. “That’s the other thing. Letting Takk in on our secret is less risky than it would have been, had Graz not already known where you had gone, among a myriad of other very disconcerting things…”

“That’s impossible! I left before dawn without ever hinting that I was going to, much less where I would have gone.”

“I think he might have recognized your Spirit Shard, not that that’s any more plausible, given how nondescript they tend to be. Then again, he managed to recognize Anu’s form from one meeting in his childhood and inferred by shifting abilities from that at a glance, so he seems to just have absurd memory and powers of observation.”

“Wait, that is not…” Takk mumbled, wandering away before closing his eyes and rubbing his temples as he concentrated. 

“So… that is it, then.” Liti slumped to the floor. “Even if I do fix my paws, I can never go back. I may as well exile myself and save the Elders the trouble. If they know anything about what I have been doing in the meantime, then they will certainly have plans and punishments ready for me the moment I show my face there again.”

“Who cares what they think!” Zal said, hopping over to the distraught Moki and wrapping a wing around her. “You’ve got me, and Ori, and the rest of my family behind you, and I would love the company if you’d like to relocate to our little corner of Niwen on a more permanent basis. You’ve certainly earned it!”

“I just… wanted to change things for the better, is all. And my ideas on how to do so all involved the element of surprise. I cannot undermine their authority if they’re ready to convincingly denounce me on sight.”

“You know, not everything needs to rest on-”

“YES! I KNEW IT!” Takk’s outburst startled Liti to her feet, bowling over Zal mid-sentence. He scampered over to them and proudly presented a thick, leather-bound book that he had apparently fetched in the last few minutes. It had no obvious markings, and seemed newer than the other dusty tomes shelved nearby. “This is a chronicle kept by Kald’s father during his time as librarian. In it he recorded the last time a Guardian Spirit descended from the New Tree visited the Glades. And I know it was the last time because Kald herself kept a similar journal, which I’ve read a few times in the past.”

“...And?” Zal asked.

“This Spirit visited years before Graz was even born, and was  _ not  _ your brother Anu. His knowledge does not just  _ seem _ impossible. It  _ is _ impossible! And he is counting on you being so intimidated by it that you’d never be able to spot the lie!”

“But he recognized Anu’s form and called him by name, so... he has another way of getting information?”

“Well, we are in one of the greatest centers of knowledge in all of Niwen, are we not?” Liti asked. “If Graz has something that powerful, then surely between the three of us we can find a hint about what it is here!”

“But what about your, uh…” Takk gestured at Liti’s paws

“I have time, and now that I am given the choice, this is how I want to spend it.” Liti smiled at the newly founded trio. “So, what do you say, team?” She extended a stone paw, pads forward.

“You’ve done so much for my family, how could I say no?” Zal shifted into a Moki and pressed their forepaw against hers. 

“I…” Takk raised his paw and held it out halfway. Liti didn’t need to read his mind to know what he was thinking. Regardless of his feelings on the Elders, he had the most to lose out of any of them if this went wrong. Liti chose this path, but Takk had just stumbled into it a few hours ago. No creature could be fairly expected to make a snap decision like that, much less one so- “I am in.” The third paw completed the gesture, and the determination in the young Moki’s eyes were more than convincing. “Knowing what I know now, I do not think I could go back anyway.”

Liti had never heard a truer statement in her life. 


	10. Night Dives and Day Trips

_That night, many miles north..._

The skies over Baur’s Reach were deathly silent, save for the shrill howl of the mountain’s winds. And on a moonless night like this, it would be nigh-impossible to spot the massive black shape moving across the field of stars, even if one were looking for it. This was what Ku counted on to hunt her prey. The senses of the Reach’s largest beasts were incredibly keen, and were the great owl to give them even the slightest hint of her presence before she struck, they would make for the safety their caves and burrows, or worse, prepare to fight back. After all,the larger the predator, the larger the prey they would need to hunt, and nothing in Niwen ever got that large without being very capable of defending itself should the need arise. Ku would almost certainly come out on top in any confrontation, but even the slightest chance of injury to her wings or talons wasn’t worth the risk. 

However, just as she lined up a particularly vulnerable looking moose, a bright flash of light part way up the mountain caught her eye. The Reach’s Spirit Well had been activated, which could only mean that one of Ori’s children was arriving. Normally, this would be cause for celebration. Their family was spread so far across the forest and were tasked with very important duties, so proper visits were rare. However, Ku immediately recognized that this particular arrival spelled disaster, not through anyone’s fault, but rather through sheer bad luck. 

The Reach had just received heavy and oddly out-of-season snowfall, and the rapid shift in temperatures had left the snowpack dangerously unstable. If left alone for another day, the snow would have melted enough to eliminate the danger, but the sudden burst of energy from the Well was just enough to collapse that part of the mountainside, burying the newly arrived Spirit in snow and debris far faster than Ku could arrive.

 _They are a sturdy bunch,_ Ku reassured herself as she rushed to the scene. _I can dig them out, and they’ll be no worse for wear._ And for a moment, it seemed that even that wouldn’t be necessary, as the glowing head of the Spirit soon pushed its way out of the snow. But the deafening crack of the clifface over their head splitting apart immediately proved otherwise, the shift in weight caused by the small avalanche having caused old instabilities in the rock to finally give way. A boulder nearly as large as Ku herself tumbled down the slope, right towards the Spirit who had yet to free themselves from the snowbank.

 _No!_ Ku tucked her wings in and went into a dive, desperate to intercept the rock. An impact of that magnitude was more than likely to seriously injure the owl, but none of that mattered, so long as she could break the boulder before it landed. Her trajectory was precise, and her speed was incredible, she was sure to make it. Ku closed her eyes and braced herself...

But the impact never came.

When she opened her eyes, she had come to a complete halt, hanging in midair. The boulder that had been her target was doing the same beside her. And below them both was the Spirit, still half-buried in the snow, pressing both of his hands against the formerly falling objects and glowing far brighter than was probably healthy. Ku sighed in relief, recognizing her nephew’s gift immediately. 

The Spirit’s glow faded, and both Ku and the boulder fell harmlessly into the snow with muffled thuds. Standing and shaking the fresh powder off of her feathers, the owl approached her new charge, who was now slumped over where he had stood, snoring loudly. 

_You don’t know how not to overdo it, do you, Anu?_ After a few prods with a beak tip to confirm he was out cold, Ku plucked him out of the drift by the scruff of his neck and took off into the inky blackness towards home. _It’s been a good while since I’ve had guests. Perhaps he’ll be out long enough for me to tidy up the place, too._

  
  


* * *

  
  


The sun had been up for a few hours now, and Anu was still unconscious, having made himself at home in a makeshift bed of down feathers that he had gathered in his sleep, much to Ku’s annoyance. She’d managed to line her nest precisely to her liking after the big storm the previous week messed it all up, and just knew that she’d have to spend the whole evening fixing it before she’d be able to sleep. Still, her nephew’s comfort was more important, especially after the previous night’s ordeal. 

To that end, she’d spent the morning hunting down a breakfast more befitting of her wider family’s largely vegetarian diet. Ripe fruit was a hard find this time of year, and edible stalks or roots were nigh-impossible for a massive creature like her to dig up without destroying them completely. But with sharp eyes and a lot of patience, she somehow managed to amass a sizable pile of greens that would be more than enough to satisfy the hunger of even a Spirit who had expended every ounce of energy they had. At least she assumed. Her prey certainly seemed to like the stuff. 

And with that finished, she waited.

And waited. 

And waited.

It was nearly noon by the time Anu stirred, and Ku had long since nodded off, nestled in her favorite corner of the nest that remained shaded by the overhanging cliff face for most of the day. She _was_ nocturnal, after all. The Spirit yawned and stretched before rubbing his eyes and taking in his surroundings. Upon realizing where he was, what had happened, who he was with, and that she had set out “food” for him, Anu smiled. Rather than dig through the pile of roughage for something digestible, though, he instead wandered over to the wall where his aunt rested and began searching it up and down. 

He eventually found what he was looking for, tucked away just barely within reach off the edge of the nest: a small cluster of blue crystals growing from the rock. A few swift blows from a nearby loose stone shattered the fragile formation, releasing a scant few motes of blue light that Anu was quick to snatch up with his free hand before they floated out of reach, the energy quickly fading through his ethereal fur and vanishing within him. The sound of the crystal breaking roused Ku, who hooted groggily as she shook herself awake. 

“Ah! Sorry to wake ya!” Anu said, scampering over to the owl and away from the sheer drop to give her the best hug someone as small as him could give. Ku glanced at the untouched meal she had prepared, then stared at Anu, her orange eyes narrowing as she took in just how chipper and energized he was.

 _You could have at least tried some,_ she thought, her huff of displeasure and tapping talons conveying her feelings quite clearly. 

“Don’t look at me like that!” Anu responded, stepping back. “I’m sure you worked real hard gathering all that up for me, but none of it looked... particularly tasty, and the energy from a crystal is just as nourishing as food, plus they grow all over! I woulda tried it had I not found any, promise!”

 _Fine, then. How about you tell me why you’re here? Not that I don’t appreciate the visit, but we both know that these are never casual._ Ku made a few gestures with her wings, pointing first to Anu, then to herself, then to her nest. 

“Right, right.” Anu nodded, understanding perfectly. “This isn’t quite a _crisis_ , but we could sure use your help with something. It may take you away from your home for a while, though, so nobody’s forcing you.”

Ku looked around her nest, roughly carved out of the rock of the mountain. It certainly _was_ home, and she did her best to live comfortably, but it didn't feel quite right. It had been bothering her enough that she’d been considering moving on and building something in a different style elsewhere anyway. That’d make it her fifth abandoned nest in three years, though, which had been a worrying enough trend for her to stay put up to this point. Regardless of whether she decided to return, though, she felt no particular attachment that could possibly keep her from assisting her family. It’d still be here when she came back. If she did. So, she nodded her affirmation.

“Great! I’ll fill ya in on the way! Let’s…” Anu sprinted over to the far edge of the nest and barely managed to bring himself to a stop without tumbling over the edge. “Ah, heh…” He turned and looked at Ku sheepishly. “Mind if I hitch a ride with you? I could totally halt myself before I hit the ground and all, but something tells me wings are faster… and less exhausting...” The last part was whispered, but Ku’s hearing was more than keen enough to hear it. 

_Well, come on then, hop on!_ Ku hunkered down and extended a wing towards the Spirit as a ramp, gazing at him with the brightest smile one could manage with a beak. Anu happily obliged, climbing on and taking a seat in the middle of her back. _Now, where are we going?_ Ku spun her head around and hooted quizzically, side-eyeing Anu. 

“So, you’re going to meet up with the pair we’re helping as soon as they return from a trip, so we should head home to the Tree and wait for them.” Ku visibly flinched at the mention of Ori, a reaction not even she was expecting of herself. “Ooooooor we could just meet them directly…?” Anu said, tentatively offering an alternative. “They went to the Wellspring last I heard, so we could- Whoa!” Ku launched herself into the air and turned tightly, setting a southward course from the Reach. 

_Would it really be so bad to see them?_ Ku asked herself as she reached a cruising altitude. _It’s been so long, I’m sure they’d be overjoyed to spend some quality time with their sister…_ She knew the answer, though, and it was why she was flying away from her sibling rather than towards them. 

After Ori saved Niwen, and saved _her_ , she spent years upon years living in that valley with her family. It was almost like the old days, before her first flight. Almost. She, Naru and Gumo tended to the reborn Ori as they grew, and sang and played even had the occasional dinner party with travelers of all sorts who came to see the New Tree. But the longer she lingered there, the more painful and obvious the gap in her life became. 

Ori was there, physically, but they may as well not have been there at all. Her sibling had been silenced by their sacrifice, never to move or speak a word out loud for as long as they lived. Ku would never feel the warmth of their embrace or hear the soft, almost musical tones of their voice ever again. Sometimes, if she was lucky, she could coax Sier into speaking on their behalf and letting her know what Ori was thinking. But the Voice of the Forest was... dispassionate, distant, and frankly poor at communicating emotions in general. It just wasn’t the same. And besides, the vast majority of the time Sier was preoccupied managing the vast network of Light throughout Niwen that gave life to the land and kept Decay from ever setting in. It was vitally important to the survival of so many people, so Ku never resented them for it, but understanding _why_ something must be did little to sooth the hurt caused by _how_ something must be. 

So eventually, she left. She had justified it to Naru and Gumo by demonstrating to them that she had grown far too large to live in the same house as them anymore, which was true enough, but she could have easily settled elsewhere in the valley, or up on Willow’s End if she absolutely needed that much space. Instead, she flew away from them all and stayed away for years, trying to forge some vague facsimile of the life she thought one of her kind would have lived normally, half remembered from bedtime stories Naru told of her late mother and the legends the Moki told of the owls of the now-Silent Woods. She ran away for so long that she wasn’t even there when Gumo, and later Naru, eventually…

“So, about the problem we need your help with!” Anu shouted over the wind, pulling Ku out of her nostalgic guilt spiral. “It apparently all started about a week ago, though I only heard about just before coming to see you, after popping back home to report on the status of Gerora’s restoration! Turns out there had been a cave-in up on Willow’s End, and you’ll never guess what was inside…

  
  


* * *

_That poor Moki…_ Sorrow and pity was all Ku could feel about the situation as Anu finished explaining what had happened. _No wonder Ori wants to do everything they can do to save her life. But… What could I do to help?_

“You’re probably wondering where _you_ fit in all this, right?” Anu asked, as if reading her mind. “Well, we think we may have a solution. Or, rather, know someone else who likely does. Problem is that it’s quite the trek to reach him, and the poor girl might not have that long. But with your speed and ferrying capabilities, you could get her there in no time at all! It might even be a refreshing trip for you!”

Ku thought about it for a few minutes, narrowing down the possibilities for this mystery source in her head until only one remained. If it was anybody she was aware of, at least, it would most certainly be _him,_ and she honestly didn’t know how she felt about that possibility. It would take some time to process, for sure. 

“Looks like we’ll be at that old mill in just a few minutes!” Anu shouted, and sure enough, the massive structure was starting to peek over the trees ahead, with a village belonging to the Moki nearby below. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen Zal! I wonder if they picked up any new…” The Spirit trailed off, as if he had just felt or realized something.

 _Anu?_ Ku hooted in concern, but her nephew didn’t respond. Then she felt something as well. It was subtle, but uncomfortable, like a slight, tingling itch that made the feathers on her torso fluff up reflexively. And then something from the Glades below erupted in a piercing orb of white light that left Ku seeing spots and Anu crying out in pain as he was ripped from the owl’s back like he had hit an invisible wall. _Anu!_ Ku pulled an immediate u-turn and dove low to catch the falling Spirit, but he was nowhere to be seen. It was only when Ku looked upwards to her original altitude that she spotted him, hovering presumably right where they had been when the flash occurred, clutching his head.

 _He halted himself!_ She realized, as she began to climb back up as quickly as her wings could carry her. Anu’s ability to eliminate the momentum of any object he touched was powerful, but taxing. And if he was using it involuntarily, then there was no way he was being conservative in the effort. If Ku couldn’t get a hold of him soon, then he’d certainly fall. And sure enough, gravity resumed its influence on Anu just as Ku managed to reach him and snatch him up in her talons. He squirmed slightly in her grip, reassuring her that he was still alive, at the very least, but she knew she had to land immediately to assess the situation. Something told her that whatever had just happened down in the village wasn’t good, either. _Only one way to find out, I suppose,_ she thought, doing her best to ignore the growing pit in her stomach as she glided towards the forest floor as gently as she could. 


	11. Retrograde

Liti’s oldest memory was of a smell. No real event was associated with it, but the acrid, sour stench of burning pine needles was etched into the deepest recesses of her mind stronger than any image. Only now, given a unique opportunity to reflect on the oddity, did she give it even the slightest bit of thought. Someone must have burned stray debris without thinking around her when she was an extremely young pup. In the end though, being first did not make the memory important, and it could stand to be temporarily thrown away for the greater good, assuming this desperate gambit even worked. 

_ I certainly seem to be making a lot of those, lately… _ One by one, Liti passed by her memories, in a manner reminiscent of turning pages in a book. One by one, Liti deemed them unessential and worthwhile sacrifices. A childhood of exploring the Glades and Wellspring, and the innumerable lectures she received from the Elders. The sudden passing of her father to an unknown illness. The self-imposed exile of her mother to a distant village as she tried to escape her grief. None were worth keeping, and some were parts she half-wished she could get rid of for good. 

_ May as well just skip all of these, _ she thought, regarding the very boring and repetitive stretch of years between her mother’s departure for lands unknown and her own in search of a purpose. One scene, the view of the sunset scattered across her walls by her Spirit Shard, was the first memory that she deemed worth keeping. It was what truly led to this point, after all. And of the resulting adventure, more and more was impossible to set aside. The chance encounter with Caesi, discovering Zal, meeting Ori, finding her resolve. Some bits she was more than eager to forget, of course, such as the stone Moki of the Woods or the whispers of the Decay within her mind. 

And then came… the loss of her paws. She reflexively moved to purge it, forget the pain and the angst. But she hesitated. And she wasn’t sure why.

_ I will return to this at the end, _ she concluded. The aftermath was far easier to sort through. Every moment with Zal and Ori was not to be touched. Doubly so for the plan the pair had formed with the help of Takk, and the knowledge she required to see this backup of a backup plan through to the end. Still, these were the last memories she had leading up to the present, and had to be reviewed for the process to complete itself. Shame they weren’t all that pleasant...

* * *

  
  


Liti, Zal, and Takk went well into the night searching for answers in books, with Takk’s knowledge of the library’s organization allowing them to avoid sections that were absolutely certain not to hold anything relevant. Even then, no progress was made for hours upon hours. Liti in particular was increasingly frustrated by this, as the only way she could contribute was slowly scanning low shelves of books for any title she thought might be of interest, then wait for Zal or Takk to come and look at it. Add in the fact that there were many big words on display that she didn’t know needed explained, and it felt like she’d be more helpful if she just sat in the corner and stayed out of the way. And eventually, that’s what she did, but more because she had to sit down and take a breather than because of a lack of determination. 

“You okay, Liti?” Zal asked, shifting from hummingbird to raven momentarily to speak. 

“Yes, I am fine, just tired. Though I am not sure why,” she answered, a dull ache in her ankles where flesh met stone becoming steadily more pronounced as she spoke. 

“Take it easy, okay?” Zal asked, concerned. “It’s likely that you don’t have nearly the same stamina that you once had, what with being host to competing energies and all. That’s gotta be rough on your body.”

“I am  _ fine, _ ” Liti repeated tersely. “I will keep searching in a little bit.”

“Just remember, there’s no rush. The village isn’t about to implode if we don’t find what we’re looking for before we burn through this place’s stock of candles tonight.”

“I suppose.” Liti sat and watched the diligent work of her friends for a while, but the aching in her forelegs had spread up to her elbows, feeling as if she had pulled muscles lifting something heavy. This prompted her to flop onto her side and take her weight off of them, which at least kept the pain from getting any worse in the meantime. Normally, she’d curl up and lay down on her stomach, resting her head on her paws, but that obviously wouldn’t be comfortable anymore. Still, she must have nodded off pretty quickly, because the next thing she knew Takk was leaping around excitedly making all sorts of noise, and the orange of sunrise was peeking in through an open window. 

“I found it! I actually found it!” he squealed, clutching a plain, leatherbound book tightly to his chest. 

“Huh?” Zal yawned, having apparently fallen asleep in the meantime as well, perched on top of one of the bookcases. 

“It took me a while to find where she had it tucked away, but here it is! Kald’s personal pull list records!” When his explanation only drew groggy, confused stares from the other two, Takk elaborated. “Anyone in the village can make a request for books or general information from Kald, and she will do her best to track it down. She is a stickler for organization, though, so she keeps incredibly detailed records of who requests what books, when they were checked out, and when they were checked back in. After you two had turned in for the night, I had an idea. If Graz has some sort of special knowledge or tool, he would have to have learned about it somewhere, yes? And if he learned about it here…”

“Then there’d be a record of what book he learned it from in that log!” Zal finished, perking up and flying down to Takk, shifting to their brother’s form as they landed. Liti stretched and tried to stand, the soreness in her forelegs from the night before having given way to a terrible stiffness that the paranoid part of her mind feared was a sign of her Decay spreading, but a cursory examination suggested that it was just her naturally recovering from overexertion. 

_ All that from just pacing around in this room for a day? _ The thought was concerning. Was she really going to be able to do only that much in a day? Was this as bad as it would get for now, or would she quickly deteriorate further?  _ Forget it. What happens is what happens, and I cannot change it. Not yet, at least. _ Liti limped her way over to the others as Takk opened the logbook to the first page. 

“If I recall correctly, Graz became an Elder early in Kald’s tenure as Librarian, so if he requested what we’re looking for, it should be near the beginning of the records…” He began scanning and flipping pages faster than Liti thought was reasonably possible, his paws moving with learned deftness. But he was most certainly comprehending everything on every page, because it only took a few minutes for him to find something promising. “There!” Takk pointed excitedly at a line halfway down the current page, which Liti didn’t bother trying to read, knowing that he’d have explained it all and more by the time she’d have understood what she was looking at. “So, the first thing Graz ever requested was a book on… Spirit Shards? And according to this, he has never returned it in the intervening decades…” Takk resumed flipping pages, pausing to note every time Graz’s name came up. 

“Do you think that he’s actually had one for all this time?” Zal asked, idly toying with Liti’s own Shard as they spoke. “Or was he  _ searching _ for one, that he eventually found? Either way, in terms of things capable of extraordinary feats, a Spirit Shard certainly tops the list.”

“He checked out all sorts of books for a few years afterward, too, all either about Niwen’s history or Spirits. Never returned any of those, either.”

“That would explain the impressive collection in his house,” Zal said. “And keeping a book under lock and key personally is a great way to make sure nobody else ever reads it.”

“Indeed, and that presents quite the problem for us, if he took all the relevant books, then he effectively erased all knowledge of his capabilities from the library. We can always comb those sections over again, but-”

“What about poetry?” Liti cut in, speaking for the first time since waking up. “Did he ever take out any of that?”

“How would  _ that _ help?” Zal asked, completely baffled by the suggestion. 

“It’s just…” Liti rubbed a stone paw behind her head, unsure of how to explain the thought. “I don’t recall much of my schooling, but the one thing that did catch my interest was the one day we were made to read poems. One of them was really long and flowery, but it was a complete story, telling the history of some great battle between Gorleks and Spiders that the Willow intervened to stop untold generations ago. The teacher called it an… e… ep...” Liti trailed off unable to remember the term.

“An epic?” Takk finished.

“Right. But if something like that holds history, maybe it is a source of knowledge that Graz... overlooked? I just never see him take an interest in the arts, is all. Probably a stupid idea...” 

“No, no, I think you are on to something!” Takk flipped backwards through the log even faster than he did forwards to double check. “No, nothing even remotely artful on the list.”

“Can we even hope to find anything useful in poems, though?” Zal asked skeptically. “They’re not exactly known for being… factual.”

“We just need a vague idea, something to infer some… mechanics in play,” Takk said. “Anything referring to a source of unnatural knowledge or a Shard that grants mental prowess. It may still be a long shot, but that is better than  _ no _ shot, yes?”

“You know what, yeah!” Zal psyched themselves up and slapped Liti on the back, causing her to stumble a bit and clatter her paws on the wooden floor. “Let’s get to it, we have a way narrower field to search now!” The Spirit exuded a renewed exuberance after their emotions being oddly muted up to this point. As Takk nodded and turned to find the poetry section, though, Zal leaned in and whispered something in Liti’s ear. “Hey, I know you’re not feeling your best, but you’re still  _ you _ , you know? You’re smarter than you think, and that’s always been your strength, not your ability to run and climb all day. You’ve provided the catalyst of hope, so let us take care of the rest.”

Liti sat back, actually content to do so this time, as her friends went to work…

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Liti skimmed the few hours of memories of renewed research and the discovery of exactly what they were looking for. It was exciting, and revealing, but when she boiled it down, all that mattered was The Lost Wisp. An epic poem, written by an ancient Moki, telling the tale of the Memory of the Forest. They were on a mission to safeguard the forest from a mysterious threat, as the Willow was very young, and there were not yet any Spirits to take up the task. Only that aspect of Sier had the knowledge necessary to succeed, and no more energy could be spared for assistance. 

It was on this journey that the Memory met the Poet, who protected the vulnerable Wisp and allowed them to accomplish their goal. As a token of gratitude, the Memory left the Poet with a Shard, a small crystallization of their own Light. A Shard to store and withdraw memory from the Wisps themselves, so that neither would forget the other, for as long as they lived. It was clear that Graz had somehow come into possession of this ancient heirloom, and was drawing upon the Memory of the Forest and abusing that knowledge to his own ends. 

And it was after Takk read the epic out loud and the trio realized what was going on, that everything began to fall apart…

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


“Liti, wait! You can’t just rush in there!” Zal leapt into the Moki’s way as she attempted to climb onto the Spirit Well, shifting into a spiderling and bracing four of their eight legs against her to hold her in place. “We need to take time to think of a better plan!”

“You... heard Takk, yes?” Liti grunted, struggling against Zal’s impressive grip. “Graz is drawing upon knowledge directly from the Forest itself, and considering he has to be near the village’s Well to use the shard, he probably does so at night.  _ You... _ have made use of this Well’s restorative energy more than once today, which connected you with that same source of Memory each time!” Liti stopped struggling, and Zal tentatively released her. “By tomorrow... he will know that we know.”

“Yeah, but…” Zal paused to think of a rebuttal. “But we can still think of something more clever, or go and get help, or any number of things! At least give us a day. It won’t matter if he knows we are coming if he can’t do anything to stop us.”

“But what if I do not _ have _ a day to spare, Zal!” Liti snapped, slamming a forepaw on the ground with enough force that it would have really hurt, had the paw been flesh and blood. 

“L-Liti?” Zal stammered, taken aback by the outburst. 

“I have done nothing today but sit and watch you two read,” Liti said in a near whisper, her gaze falling to the ground. “I already feel like I have spent the day hauling something very heavy. However long we thought I might have, I likely have far less…”

“Then why are we even doing this? Graz can wait until you’re-”

“ _ No! _ ” Liti shouted, raising her voice once again. “I… can not just leave this be, especially if I am not going to…”

“Don’t say that!” Zal pleaded. “Please… You’re going to be okay, so long as we take care of you first. But...” Liti could feel the Spirit’s heart sink as they sighed and shuffled out of her way. “But I don’t get to decide for you. Hasn’t that been the whole point of everything we’ve been through up to this point? If you feel like this is what you absolutely must do… I won’t stop you.” 

“Thank you.” Liti solemnly stepped up on the platform, and turned to look at her friends. Zal had averted their eight eyes, but Takk, who had been staying out of the argument completely up to this point, was staring right at her with a gleam in his eyes of… pride? Respect? Regardless, he nodded and finally spoke up.

“You will be the distraction, yes? Make as big of a scene as possible while Zal and I search Graz’s home. We will just be a few minutes behind you if we fly.”

“That is the idea. Good luck, everyone.” Liti smiled and concentrated for a moment, activating the Well.  _ Whatever happens to me does not matter, _ she reaffirmed to herself,  _ so long as I can make a difference for them in the end... _ The Light flared up around her and-

  
  


* * *

  
  


_ And… Nothing? _ Liti had reached the end of her memories, save for a few stray feelings and details.  _ The plan went horribly wrong, but I somehow got a hold of the Memory Shard, so I… _ Then she found the answer at the far end of the strange gap.  _ This is already my second pass? The memory of what happened there was the  _ **_first_ ** _ thing I tossed, before anything else... It does not matter, then. I will finish what I started and pick up the pieces later. _

There was but one step left in the process. She would confirm her choice and her memories would be stored. But that alone would accomplish nothing. She was going to destroy the Shard the only conceivable way she could think of: by using the little bit of Light in her as the catalyst rather than the Light from the Well, her memories would have nowhere to go, and (hopefully…) the Shard would not be able to contain the sheer volume of a lifetime’s experience rebounding like that and fail completely. It was risky, reckless, and not even remotely guaranteed to work, but something in that vague gap of memory told her that it was her only shot. 

_ This ends here and now,  _ Liti decided, giving the Memory Shard its final command. The constructed reality of her memories faded away, and the real world around her started to come back into focus. But it was only visible for a brief moment before the Shard she clutched tightly to her chest exploded, engulfing her and the entire village square in an all-encompassing flash of brilliance.

_ It’s… beautiful!  _ the nameless Moki thought, watching the show without a care or worry in all the world.


	12. Blissful Ignorance

Ku touched down in the Glades to find the village in chaos. A crowd of Moki sprinted away from the source of the explosion, not visibly injured or in any physical danger, but rather simply dazed and afraid. Her own sudden appearance certainly didn’t help the panicking, but for the most part the villagers were too preoccupied with simply getting away to particularly care what they were getting away  _ from. _

_ Thank goodness they’re such a skittish bunch, _ the owl thought, releasing her grip on Anu and letting him down gently onto the grass.  _ Please be okay, _ she silently pleaded, prodding the Spirit with her beak and hooting gently in an attempt to rouse him. 

“Mmph?” Anu murmured, squirming at Ku’s touch. “I’m up… I’m up…” He sat up and rubbed his eyes before looking around. “...Aunt Ku? What happened? Last I remember, we were in the air, then…”

_ I’m not sure, either, little one. _ Ku shrugged, then motioned for Anu to stay put while she went to check out the source of the explosion. Going towards what all the Moki were running from would make finding it easy enough. 

“Sure thing, no complaints here,” Anu said, flopping down onto the grass. “I may just pass out again in the meantime. Stupid Spirit junk making me exhaust myself twice in less than a day…”

It only took a minute for Ku to find ground zero, the small plaza where the village’s Spirit Well was located, and there were only two Moki there. One, unconscious, but gently tucked into a corner where he wouldn’t get trampled or bothered. The other, wearing a rather dirty bandanna and a basic napsack, standing guard over what appeared to be a small, glowing puddle a short distance from the Well. Perhaps what was left over from that light show? The conscious Moki looked up at Ku as she entered, not a hint of fear in her eyes despite the owl’s imposing visage. 

“Oh my, you’re certainly big,” she said. “I don’t suppose you know how to help my friend, here, do you? Whatever just happened hit them pretty hard, and now they can’t maintain…” The Moki paused to think of a word. “...shape?” she finished, seemingly unsure if she found the right one. When Ku only cocked her head in confusion, the Moki simply turned back to the puddle and gently rested an oddly colored forepaw on it. “Hang in there, Zal, you’re gonna be just fine, promise…”

_ Zal? _ Ku hooted in surprise at the mention of the Spirit’s name.  _ They were who Anu and I were going to meet at the Wellspring, weren’t they? If I recall, they’re a shapeshifter, and if Anu lost control of his gift at the distance we were flying at, then at point blank… _ The puddle-Zal rippled and writhed a bit, seemingly in response to hearing Ku.  _ They’re... awake? Even in that state? _ Ku rushed over to their side, hunkering down to get a closer look and hooting in gentle concern, which again prompted a response from the amorphous Spirit. 

“Oh, Zal knows you!” the Moki said, brightening up instantly. “Thanks so much for coming to help, they appreciate it a lot! If I had a bucket or pot to carry them in, I’d get them somewhere safer, but I don’t think I’ll be able to go get one until Takk comes to.” She gestured strangely with a foreleg towards the knocked-out Moki, her paw seemingly stuck in one position. Ku quickly realized that she was the Moki who had been crippled by Decay that she had agreed to help in the first place.

_ What was her name again? _ Ku asked herself. _ Starts with an “L,” I think? I’d have thought she’d have introduced herself by now… _

“He took a pretty nasty blow to the head, it seems,” the Moki continued, “so I need to be here to keep the both of them safe. It’s the least I can do for them after all they’ve done for me. It may be awkward for someone as big as you, but do you think you could find something?” She looked up at Ku with a pleading expression. “We’d both appreciate it a lot!”

_ Of course. _ Ku nodded and stood up, scanning the plaza for anything the little one had missed before walking back out towards where she had left Anu. He’d certainly want to know that Zal was… well, not okay, but likely to be okay. Eventually. Anu was still sleeping right where Ku had left him, now with a few of the less panicked Moki crowded around him and chattering amongst themselves. Of course, they all scattered as soon as they noticed Ku coming, and Ku plucked the Spirit off the ground by the scruff of his neck. She waited a few seconds for him to wake up and begin struggling before setting him back down on his feet. 

“Whoa, okay, yeah.” Anu yawned. “I’m guessing you found something important?” Ku nodded, pointed a wingtip at Anu, then in the direction of Zal, hoping that whatever sense Spirits had of each other filled in the rest. “Wait… There are two other Spirits over there? And one of them is...  _ Zal! _ ” Within seconds, Anu was running towards his sibling at full sprint, leaving Ku very confused as to what he meant about a second Spirit. She hadn’t seen any, and that Moki certainly didn’t indicate that anyone else was there…

_ No matter, just find a container and hurry back! _ Thankfully, a stray metal pail sitting by a nearby regular, non-Spirit well would do just fine, and Ku had caught back up with Anu just as he reached the plaza. 

“Oh, Zal…” Anu said at a near whisper as he approached his sibling and their Moki guardian, but just his presence was enough to motivate Zal to pull a modicum of themselves together and extend a goopy tendril to grasp Anu hand. Ku decided to give them their space, and stayed back for a bit. “It’s gonna be fine, ya hear? We just gotta give you time to recover from… what the heck  _ happened _ here?” Anu turned to look at the Moki, who could only shrug. 

“I dunno, Anu, I’m afraid I can’t recall much of anything about the events leading up to this. Or many other events, for that matter. But now that you’re here, things are definitely looking up!”

“Dang, that blast must’ve scrambled you pretty…” The Spirit trailed off and did a double-take, squinting as he gave the Moki a once-over. “Have we… met?”

“Nope!”

“But you know my name.”

“Oh, yeah, Zal uses your form all the time! It’s basically her default when they want to look like a Spirit.”

“Of course it is,” Anu muttered under his breath before lightening up. “You must be Liti, then! I should have known that you’d be the other presence I could sense.” Anu stood up and extended a hand to shake, before quickly realizing that she wouldn’t be able to do so and awkwardly withdrawing. “I actually have some good news for you! But I think helping Zal and your other friend here is a bigger priority at the moment.”

The Moki (Liti?) scrunched up her face, as if she were trying to think of something. “...I guess that works.”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean the name, not the plan. You said I’m... ‘Liti,’ right? I suppose that’s as good a name as any for now.”

“...Let me get this straight. You remember the name and appearance of a recently-met friend’s brother from offhand mentions and occasional shape-borrowing, but not  _ your own name? _ ”

“Don’t ask me how it works,” Liti said, shrugging. “I’m just as confused as you are. Looks like your bird-friend brought a bucket, though, so we should probably gather these two up and get somewhere safe.”

“Right, we’ll sort you out later.” Anu waved at Ku, indicating that she was good to approach. Ku herself was more than eager to, since standing back and watching that exchange was unnerving in ways she couldn’t fully understand. “This is our Aunt Ku, by the way.” Liti then also waved at her, completing the introduction. 

_ She’s just so… calm about it all. _ Ku thought, as she set the pail down beside Anu.  _ Does she know or think whatever happened to her is temporary? Or did she literally “forget” how to feel her own fear and discomfort? It’s... not natural, but maybe it’s for the best in the short term… _

“Okay, Zal, this is going to feel weird, but I’m going to freeze you so you’re easy to scoop up,” Anu said, gently laying his hands on Zal’s surface. “I don’t want to risk losing any… bits of you.” His glow subtly intensified, and all of Zal’s idle shifting and twitching came to a halt. “Pick them up for me, Liti. I can only really do one thing at a time right now.”

“On it!” The Moki bit her lip as she concentrated on wedging her stone paws under Zal’s similarly rigid form. It took a few tries, but eventually she managed to stand Zal up on end and slide the bucket in under them with a sweep of a hind leg. Anu then slowly eased off of his powers, and between the two of them they were able to funnel Zal safely into the container. “You feeling okay in there?” Liti asked, to which Zal rippled in what seemed to be the affirmative, given her and Anu’s reaction. “Great! Now for Takk…” She began to walk towards her sleeping companion, only for the loud crunch of her stone paws on gravel to make her pause and reconsider. “Hey, uh, Ku, right? Do you think you could…”

_ Right. _ Ku walked over and gently placed a talon over the injured Moki, taking care to keep his head secure without jostling it unnecessarily. 

“We should leave,” Liti said. “I can’t tell you how or why, but I know that we won’t want to be here when the villagers calm down and return. I think one of us did something to make them mad. Probably me.”

“Well, we  _ were _ headed for the Wellspring to find you initially, and I doubt anyone here will be making that trip any time soon,” Anu suggested. “That seems like a good place to shelter and take stock before heading back home.”

“Oh, okay!” Liti said with seemingly boundless enthusiasm. “...What’s the Wellspring?”

Ku audibly sighed and extended a wing, gesturing with her head for the two to climb on.

_ What in the world are we supposed to do with you? _

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Takk awoke to a blinding sunset shining directly into his barely-open eyes, which immediately made his throbbing headache much worse.

“Owwwwwwww…” he groaned as he stood, immediately feeling a large, scabbed-over lump on the back of his head when he placed a paw on it reflexively. He tried to recall what had happened, running through the events in his head piece by piece…

“Oh, good! You’re awake!” a familiar voice called out as the world came back into focus, revealing that he was back in the Wellspring’s library. If not for the head wound, he’d almost have assumed that he’d just dreamt the whole past day. 

“...Zal? What happened?” Takk asked, turning to look at the Spirit standing before him. 

“I was hoping that you’d be able to tell me, because I wasn’t there,” they said, before extending a hand to shake. “I’m Anu, Zal’s brother and the owner of their favorite form to use, apparently.”

“Oh,” Takk said softly, still not one-hundred percent awake. Still, he accepted the handshake before he thought to even ask the first question. “...Why are you here?”

“We  _ were _ on our way here to tell Liti and Zal about a potential solution to their problem, but then something exploded and now things are  _ so much more complicated and I hate it! _ ” 

“You are… hurting my paw…” Takk squirmed as he tried to free his paw from Anu’s tightening grip.

“Sorry! Sorry.” Anu let go and grinned sheepishly, though Takk could tell that he was still very frustrated. “Anyway, if we’re going to proceed, I need to have at least  _ some _ idea of what happened. You’re the only one of us who was both there and is in any condition to speak about it.”

“Right...” Takk rubbed his temples, trying to concentrate through the fog and throbbing pain. “Liti was dead-set on deposing Elder Graz by exposing his lies and abuse of a Spirit Shard, but Graz had hid the Shard on his person and used it on her to find out what she knew. We... were caught, there was a struggle, and Liti managed to tackle Graz and get her paws on the shard. Then…”

“...Then?”

“Then there was the aforementioned explosion, something hit me in the head in the commotion, and now I’m-” Takk stopped mid sentence and his eyes snapped wide open as he looked around the room frantically. “Liti! Zal! What happened to them? Are they okay?”

“...Define ‘okay,’” Anu said nervously, but Takk was already running past him, his keen ears having picked up a faint, but familiar, voice from an adjoining room. 

“Liti! Are-” Takk shouted as he ran through the far door, only to skid to a stop as something truly massive moved in response to the sound of his entrance.

“Takk! You’re awake!” A very excited Liti bounded over to her stunned friend, uncaring of the noise her forepaws made as they thudded and scraped across the wooden floor. “I’m so glad we can all hang out again before Zal and I head out!”

“I- I- Uh-” Takk stammered, barely registering that Liti had spoken. Instead his eyes were transfixed on the creature before him that he had only seen illustrations of in very old books. A Great Owl. A Great Owl that was now leaning forward to examine him closely with their huge, intense, and keenly intelligent eyes. A Great Owl that could effortlessly devour him if they happened to be particularly angry or hungry. 

“Oh! Right!” Liti spun and placed a stone paw on Takk’s shoulder. “This is Ku, Zal and Anu’s aunt! She’s going to help me get to where I need to go to heal my paws! Maybe!”

“K-Ku?” Takk’s mind raced as he tried to recall where he had heard, or read, that name before. Terror certainly didn’t help any. Then, the second detail about the owl Liti had mentioned finally clicked with him, and he put it all together. “You are… the Hero-Spirit Ori’s adopted sister?” Ku nodded, but gave him a look indicating that she found her sibling’s honorific at least a little silly. 

“Yeah, Ku’s awesome! She carried everyone here after everything happened in that village, and she’s  _ super _ strong!”

_ Why is she… talking like that? _ Takk wondered, the awe of Ku’s presence finally easing up enough for him to take note of Liti’s bizarre behavior.  _ Her dialect has completely changed, as shown by the contractions and odd turns of phase. It’s far closer to how Zal speaks, than any Moki, just with her enthusiasm adding additional flourishes... _ He didn’t press the issue just yet, though, as there was still another thing that was more pressing at the moment. “Is Zal here, too? I haven’t heard any of their voices.”

“Yep! The Shard blowing up scrambled their powers really bad, so they can’t speak out loud just yet, but they’re getting better. Want to go say hi? They haven’t had any luck sleeping, so you wouldn’t be disturbing anything.” Liti gestured past Ku to a small section of the room that had been cordoned off with makeshift curtains propped up on crudely rearranged bookshelves.

“Okay…” Takk took a deep breath and approached the curtain bracing himself for what he might see on the other side.  _ It can not be that bad, if Liti is so cheery about it. But she seems to be cheery about literally everything at the moment. It is almost like she doesn't think anything bad has happened to her at all...  _ “Zal? It is Takk, I am coming in, okay?” There was a sound of shuffling paper from the other side of the curtain, followed by a loud metallic clang, and Takk stepped through to see the cause. 

There he found Zal, taking the shape of a Moki… loosely. The basic form was there, four legs, head, ears, eyes, tail. But it was all off and… melting? It was like Zal was made of candle wax and set next to a roaring hearth, and they were clearly struggling to maintain any shape at all. The sounds from earlier seemed to have been from a small pile of books and an old, beat-up bucket getting knocked over, perhaps from the Spirit climbing out of it. But as awful as it all seemed at first glance, Takk’s unease was somewhat put to rest by a wide, slightly-drooping smile from Zal, followed by some paw gestures indicating that Takk should watch whatever they were about to do. 

“Ooh, I love this trick!” Liti said, walking up beside Takk. Zal shifted their shape, though not into anything solid, instead dropping into a small pile of… themselves on the floor. From there, they slid backwards towards another, larger pile of books, and instead of going around it, they seemed to pass  _ through _ it, their amorphous form easily able to squeeze through the small gaps between the covers. And finally, they pulled themself together on the other side, this time approximating their raven form, though the process was slow and difficult, especially compared to how easily they collapsed themself. 

“That  _ is _ a neat trick,” Takk said, impressed. “Were you not always able to do that?”

“I think they might’ve been, had they been able to conceive of  _ not _ having a form before this,” Liti said. “The way they explained it to me when we first met, they’ve always been best at taking forms they’ve seen and remember well, only capable of making small modifications to the picture in their mind. But now that they’ve experienced, um, ‘ falling apart,’ they can replicate it at will! It’ll be  _ way _ more neat once they fully solidify again and can make the full transformation and back.”

Zal nodded in agreement, the motion causing their beak to begin sliding down their face, which in turn caused the Spirit to attempt a panicked leap over the book pile they had just traversed, only managing to trip and fall with a wet splatting sound in the process.

“Hold on, I gotcha!” Liti shouted, scrambling to push the empty bucket towards Zal, which the Spirit gladly accepted, once again losing cohesion and sliding inside the container to rest. “You really shouldn’t push yourself so soon,” Liti said, sounding genuinely concerned for the first time since Takk has started talking to her. “You’ve gotta rest for now, and pull yourself together later, okay? I’ll be back outside with Takk if you need me, just send some emotions my way. Take it easy, friend.” Liti turned and exited the enclosure, and Takk followed, where the pair found Anu chatting with Ku as he waited for them. 

“Ah, so you’ve reunited at last,” he said, smiling warily. “The meeting spark anything familiar for you, Liti?” 

“Nothing I didn’t already remember, I’m afraid,” Liti replied before turning to Takk. “I suppose I owe you an explanation on what’s going on with me. I get the feeling that I’m acting pretty strange, though there’s no real way for me to know how.”

“No,” Takk replied solemnly, his ears drooping, “I believe I have figured it out already. You broke the Memory Shard by using the only thing you had it could possibly react to, and now there is only a little of you left... I am so, so sorry, Liti.”

“Don’t be! I’m still me, I made sure to leave all the important bits!”

“...Which are?” 

“My friends! I knew that I’m nothing without all of you, so the choice of what to save was obvious.” Liti embraced Takk in a passionate hug. “Besides, I don’t know how, but I remember knowing that this wouldn’t be permanent. Or at least thinking it. Or maybe it was just a hope? Either way, everything’s fine!” 

Takk had only known the old Liti for a day, and already it felt like he had lost a dear friend. No matter this new Liti’s assurances, the two of them felt like completely different people. The Moki hugging him now was… simpler, unburdened, and either unaware or uncaring of her own pain and sacrifice. She may be happier at the moment, but how much of that happiness was born of ignorance of her loss? And what is a person, after all, but the sum of their experiences? And so Takk returned the hug twice as hard and silently mourned, for tears would only hurt the new friend he had just made in Liti’s place.


	13. Tails are Weird, and Other Benign Observations

“Hey, Zal?” Liti asked as the Spirit sat on a nearby window sill in the library idly practicing shifting a single hand into various shapes, the both of them pretty much out of things to do and prepare until Anu returned with the final word from Ori on their conditions. 

“Yeah?”

“You ever wonder why most creatures have tails?” It had been a few days since the destruction of the Memory Shard, and Zal had almost completely recovered physically, now with the perspective and experience to alter their form in more detailed and specific ways. Liti hadn’t changed, aside from becoming incredibly inquisitive about things everyone around her had taken for granted thanks to her altered perspective. Neither of them were cleared to use the Spirit Wells, though, as a precaution, so it was Anu and Ku that did most of the errand running in preparation for the upcoming journey.

“I mean, a lot of my forms need tails for balance, and I’ve been a few animals capable of holding onto things with them, too.” Zal transformed their tail into one with enough musculature to wrap around a nearby book and lift it as a demonstration. They were used to these kinds of questions by this point, so the strangeness of these thoughts had long since ceased to bother them. 

“Yeah, but what about me, or your siblings?” Liti continued. “Spirits can have all sorts of tails, right? What do they use them for? And why’s the end of my tail so… poofy?” She swatted at her own tail with a stone forepaw, the large tuft of fur at the end muffling the normally heavy thud almost completely. “I suppose it’d be good to hug, if I could grasp it with my paws.”

“How’s that treating you, by the way?” Zal asked, stopping what they were doing and turning to the Moki. “You were getting to a bit of a... breaking point, before, well...”

“I mean, it’s clear that I’m not  _ supposed _ to be this way, but…” Liti held a paw up to the light, causing it to cast a shadow across her face. 

“But?”

“But, aside from tiring out super easily, I’m not sure it’s that big of a deal.”

“ _ What? _ ” Zal bolted upright, nearly falling off of the sill in the process. “You’re not giving up _ , _ are you _? _ After all this?”

“Of course not!” Liti shot back, clearly offended. “It’s just… Hmmm.” She rubbed her wrists against her temples, another frequent gesture in the past few days that indicated she was trying to put words to unfamiliar concepts. “Okay, how’s this: Put yourself in Anu’s place when he thinks about you. Anu can’t shift into a bird and fly, or turn into something small and swift. Is that a big deal to him?”

“Well, no, not as far as I can tell. So?”

“So, now imagine that he  _ used to _ be able to, but now can’t due to some freak accident. How do you think he’d feel about it then?”

“Probably… not good.”

“I’m like the first Anu, if that makes any sense. I can’t remember ever being able to use my forepaws, so I don’t have any experience with them to miss.” Liti shrugged, going back to messing with her tail. “That’s all there is to it, really. I’m plenty motivated to be healed, since that’s gonna, you know, keep me from dying young and all, but I’m not going to mope about losing something I have no memory of ever having.”

“That’s… fair,” Zal said. “Surprisingly nuanced, even. I suppose I’ll just… defer to  _ experience _ on the matter!” Zal flashed the widest grin they could, which involved shifting into the shape of a large, toothy-mouthed lizard, but quickly became a raven instead and fluttered to the ground when Liti simply didn’t respond. “Hey, come on, that was funny!”

“I know.” Liti was staring at the ground, an almost haunted expression on her face. “I think I just… remembered something.”

“That’s fantastic!” Zal exclaimed, becoming a spider, their form of choice for hugs. But they stopped short of embracing the Moki when they finally noticed exactly what emotions were emanating from her. Pain. Despair. Fear. “It... wasn't a very pleasant memory, was it?”

Liti nodded. 

“Wanna talk about it?”

“I don’t think I know how,” Liti said flatly, continuing to stare into space. “It’s very short, just a few seconds long, and it just popped into my head without any memories from before or afterward to clue me in on what was even happening. But I felt every detail and emotion as if it had just happened to me.” Liti’s eyes seemed to glaze over as she continued, her voice dropping even further into a flat monotone. “I felt the heat of a fire, and could smell the pungent smoke. I was afraid, and alone. Someone I don’t recognize, a female Moki, I think, was speaking in a hushed but angry tone to someone else nearby, and I could hear her words as clear as day. ‘She does not have the  _ experience _ to make it through this!’ she said. The words hurt. And then the memory ended. And then I was back here. And then you were mad that I didn’t laugh. And then-”

“Liti!” Zal shouted, lightly shaking her with their front four legs. “Snap out of it! You’re okay, it’s over, whatever that was, it’s in the past and can’t hurt you.”

“T-Thanks.” Liti smiled weakly, breaking out of the strange loop she had briefly become stuck in. “I’m gonna go lay down for a bit, if that’s okay.”

“You sure you don’t want to try and think on this more? We might be able to mend your mind faster that way.”

“Later, maybe, once Anu is back with more info. Don’t want to risk anything worse in the meantime, I think.” Liti stood up and limped away towards the small storage room she had repurposed as a bedroom of sorts.

“Sure. Just don’t…” Zal trailed off before shaking their head. “Just be kind to yourself, okay?”

“Mhm.” Liti continued on, waffling back and forth on whether she wanted to think about what had just happened or not. It wasn’t until she flopped onto the pile of blankets she called a bed that she settled on simply ignoring it as best she could.  _ What good could ruminating on contextless trauma do me? _ She huffed. _ It was just distilled misery, completely worthless. Honestly, if that’s the caliber of memory I threw away, then I hope I never remember anything else. I already have everything I need, after all.  _

And that was that. One upside of spending a few days doing nothing to think about but her own thoughts was that Liti had gotten quite used to compartmentalizing and filing things away for later. Or maybe never, as the case may be. As far as she was concerned, tails were way more interesting to contemplate than trauma any day. 

  
  
  
  
  


One nap and a small snack later, and Liti was back to her peppy, enthusiastic, amnesiac self. There still wasn’t much to do, though, and Zal was being oddly distant, so Liti opted to go sit on the balcony and birdwatch until something happened. Thankfully, the Wellspring’s wildlife was more than entertaining enough to pass the time until the telltale whooshing sound of the Spirit Well activating reached her ears, indicating Anu’s return. 

“About time you got back!” Liti called as she limped back inside. “We were expecting you a good while ago.”

“Yeah, well, my check-in with Takk at the Glades got me held up with…  _ politics.”  _ Anu visibly shivered as he said the last word, but calmed himself enough to casually sit on the edge of the Well and dangle his feet. “Where’s Zal?” 

“No clue.” Liti shrugged. “Last I saw them they wandered off and gave off some pretty clear vibes indicating that they didn’t want to be bothered. Not really sure what’s going on there.”

“Well, most of what I have to say just concerns you, anyway, so they can catch up later. What do you wanna hear about first: the Glades or you?”

“Glades, for sure,” Liti answered with confidence. 

“Aight, so,” Anu began, “Graz is still nowhere to be found after he disappeared in all that commotion you caused, but nobody really cares enough to look for him. After the last few days of explaining the truth and educating the villagers, the majority of the Moki have come around to the idea that he had seriously abused their trust and respect if nothing else, so if he never shows his face there again, only a few dedicated believers will miss him.”

“But there’s other trouble, then?”

“Yeah, so, the remaining Elders have been kinda useless, as it turns out that they largely just ran errands and were delegated to by Graz. So, Takk did some reading in an old book Graz had tucked away in his home, and proposed something called an ‘election.’ Basically every villager votes on candidates for each council seat. And then...” Anu sighed, burying his face in his hands. “And then the  _ debates _ started. And the Elders asked me to  _ mediate. _ ” The sheer loathing radiating from Anu as he spoke of the request caused Liti to cringe reflexively. “I didn’t know someone could be both terrified and bored at the same time, but here we are. Anyway, moving on from that horror, I-”

“Wait, what kind of rules would they be putting in place for votes, and how-”

“ _ Moving. On. _ ” Anu repeated emphatically, clearly done. “Now, for you, it took a while to dig up the relevant bits from the Memory of the Forest, but there’s good news and bad news. Not letting you pick the order this time, since one informs the other.” 

“Okay, hit me.”

“Good: The only way you could’ve broken that Shard the way you did would have been shoving your memories into that tiny scrap of light inside you instead of the Well. That means they’re still in there and not gone forever. Bad: With the Shard gone, there’s no way to retrieve them, except for...” The Spirit trailed off and looked away, the awkward fidgeting of his hands giving away way more than even their empathic link. 

“Killing me.” Liti said bluntly, finishing the sentence.  _ Or letting them come back the same way I got that stray one earlier, _ she noted to herself, not wanting to complicate the conversation any further. _ Though there’s no way I have time to sit and wait for that to happen, anyway.  _

Anu nodded. “The Tree can take back the Light you were given, and your memories would then exist within them, but you’d be a statue long before it could be returned.”

“All the more reason to get going and get her fixed,” said a new, very quiet voice, almost like a sort of buzz in the air. 

“...Zal?” Anu said, picking up on the very subtle presence almost right away, and Liti felt a tiny tickle behind her left ear as a white speck shot out from her fur into the air in front of them. Said speck then expanded with familiar speed until Zal had returned to their original size, once again taking Anu’s form. 

“Oh, sorry! I know you hate me being you. Force of habit!” They said in Anu’s voice before their form altered significantly, becoming a fair bit shorter with longer arms and a much longer tail, almost as if they could drop to a quadrupedal stance at any moment. Then it clicked. 

“Did you just… become the average of our forms?” Liti asked. 

“Neat trick, huh?” Zal said, their voice now a fair bit higher than Anu’s. “Wasn’t even sure it would work, to be honest. How’d I come out?”

“Let me get this straight,” Liti said, ignoring the question. “The reason you were acting weird is because you were about to shrink to the size of a… something really small and  _ spy on me _ ?”

“It was just a test of if I could do it, I swear!” Zal said with sincerity that quickly slid into their own personal realization that there was more to it. “...And I’m worried about you, Liti. I needed to know if how you’re acting around me is a front to  _ stop _ me from worrying.”

“I’d never lie to you, Zal,” Liti said, obviously hurt. 

“The Liti  _ I know _ wouldn’t!” Zal cringed as soon as the exclamation left their mouth, the regret flowing off of them intense enough for Anu to flinch sympathetically. 

“Oh,” was all Liti said after Zal’s assertion hung in the air for a few seconds, the acknowledgement completely void of emotion. And in truth, Liti didn’t know  _ how _ to feel, because she could follow the line of logic perfectly, but lacked the context for what it really meant going forward.  _ I don’t act like that Liti. If Takk is anything to go by, I don’t even talk like that Liti. For all intents and purposes, the only things I share with her are a body and the scant few memories she deemed most important. Of course Zal doesn’t trust me! I wouldn’t if our situations were reversed. Well, me as of a few days ago, at least. Can’t speak for before that. _

“Ooooooooookay,” Anu said, smoothly breaking the tension by sliding between the two very conflicted creatures and placing a hand on a shoulder for each of them. “So, now that we’ve established some more stakes, you two ready to hear about your new destination that I’ve been so secretive about these last few days?”

“Oh, yeah!” Liti perked up immediately. “What was up with that? You only ever told us that someone might be able to help me, and we were leaving once we were physically up for it.”

“Well, before all this happened, Ku and I were coming here to pick you up right away, but it was decided that we needed to reevaluate the plan and destination once things got complicated, and honestly, I didn’t want to make Zal even more nervous without cause. I know  _ I’d _ be. But now it seems even more like your best shot than before, so you’ll leave with Aunt Ku as soon as she gets back her hunt today”

“And that destination is…?” Zal asked.

“There’s only one being in reasonable traveling distance with a potentially better grasp on ancient knowledge than Sier  _ and _ has experience with Decay,” Anu explained, and Zal’s eyes widened as they realized where this was going. “You’re gonna go see our grandfather, the Great Spirit Tree of Nibel.” 

Zal’s mouth opened a few times as if they wanted to speak, but no words came out. Liti, on the other hand, was completely lost. 

“I’m sorry, should I know who that is?”

  
  



	14. 1,000 Hit Special: Resent, but Not Regret

If an average being were to be in the presence of The New Tree at that moment, they would think it eerily quiet and dreary. The air was still, the sky was overcast, and even the local birds were silent, having taken shelter ahead of the imminent rain. However, from the perspective of Ori, the sheer radiance and vividness of the world around them was staggering regardless of the weather, and even after what felt like an eternity of bearing witness to it, it never failed to inspire awe and pride. After all, they had no eyes to see the sun or ears to hear the wind. Instead, they could feel the life of the forest around them in their roots. This was the forest they had saved and nurtured and brought new life into. Tree to tree, Well to Well, the whole of Niwen could be witnessed through the interconnected web of living creatures that inhabited it, though they could only focus on a small patch at any given time.

At that very moment, Ori's attention was focused as far to the west as they could look, to the beaches at the far end of the Luma Pools. They could not see the waves or smell the salt-tinged air like they once did long, long ago, but the sea’s influence on Niwen’s border was undeniable, having softened and ground down the shore to coarse sand long before even Sier’s oldest memories. This was evident in the bit out there that Ori could actually see: Seaweed that swayed in the waves, only loosely anchored to the sandy bottom below the surface, occasionally dislodging and washing up onto the shore. Ori wanted to look even farther, though, and so turned to the memory of one of their children, who had explored the coast and spent time simply gazing out to sea. Then, just barely visible through a shroud of fog, that Spirit had spied the outline of the opposite coast. Nibel. A home abandoned long ago, but never forgotten. 

“You are conflicted,” said a familiar voice from within them, startling Ori out of their nostalgic reflection. 

“You know my history as well as I do, Sier,” Ori replied. “My most treasured memories are of that place, but also my most painful. And those painful memories are all associated with  _ him. _ ”

“But he is her best chance at survival, is he not?”

“He is, but I don’t have to like it.”

“I have… not had contact with another Spirit Tree in our lifetime,” Sier said, admitting to a rare gap in experience. “Of course, I have incorporated the experiences of a few foreign Spirits a over the ages, you being one of them, but that has only given me an incomplete and very out of date picture of what they may be like. What I do know is that they have universally taken their charges very seriously. Your father is not likely to turn away a creature in need.”

“It is what he deems to be his charges at all that most concerns me,” Ori said. “I was still young when I came to Niwen, still but a child, but even I could notice how callously my father treated the Lightless.” They played back a memory of a memory, a reflection of the past they had once witnessed in the Lost Grove, their mother Naru’s ancient home. “Naru was old, about as old as the Tree, in fact. As a child, she befriended two Spirits, likely siblings to the sapling Tree himself, but even back then, there was tension between Light and the Lightless in Nibel that eventually drove them apart, and she was taken away by her family. Eki and Sol died alone in their desperate search for her, and while he never spoke of it, I believe that that shaped the Tree’s outlook greatly.”

“I seriously doubt that any of his actions were motivated by anything as petty as revenge,” Sier interjected. 

“Not revenge, no, but he does not trust or empathize with the Lightless. That much is clear. He went to extreme lengths to reclaim me from Naru, and Ku’s siblings perished because of his disregard in doing so. Her mother’s vengeance led to so much more death.” Memories of the frozen tomb the Forlorn Ruins had become flashed across Ori’s mind, both sadness and anger echoed within them. “He never once mourned for the Gumon, even after I restored the Elements and Sein was returned to him! Nibel had become home only to his beings of Light and mindless plants and animals that they watched over, and he didn’t care! His “charge” is Nibel as a whole, and Nibel as a whole survived and recovered, so  _ everything was fine _ . He never once acknowledged that it was his fault.”

“But... what of Sein?” Seir asked gently, doing their best to sooth Ori’s anger and pain. “They were your companion for that journey, much as I was here. You have nothing but fond memories of them, from what I can recall.”

“They are why I have any hope at all that Liti may be helped,” Ori said. “Sein recognized the tragedy in Naru, Eki, and Sol’s story, and did not harden their heart to it. Even when our mission was paramount to the forest’s survival, they felt pain and loss and fear the same as any compassionate being would, and it drove them forward.”

“That is... good.” Seir paused, and Ori could sense that they too had conflicted feelings on something. “I have a confession, Ori. I am… I am glad that everything turned out the way it did. I hope you do not resent me for that.” Ori responded only with confusion, so Sier elaborated. “The tragedies and cruelties in your life are what set in motion Niwen’s salvation, my own life included. If not for all of that death and pain and loss, Niwen would be a forest of stone and shifting sands by now, and I would have long since faded into nonexistence. It is wrong to trade one life for another like that, but... it makes me happy nonetheless. I am sorry.”

“Don’t be, friend,” Ori replied warmly. “Even with all that has happened and all that I lost, I would never dream of trading the life I have lived with you, nor Ku, nor the many wonderful creatures that call our forest home to go back and fix it. And, most of all…” Ori and Sier’s attentions both turned inward, to the body they shared, and to the single, white leaf that glowed brightly upon their crown. 

“Our children  _ are _ amazing, are they not?” Sier asked. They had always seen pride as a frivolous emotion, but for this, they made an exception. 

“Yes, yes they are.”

Ori and Sier. Wood and Light. Guardians, bound to the land and to each other. The two souls stood side by side as they observed the new life they had created together, and the infinite potential it held within.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm about 20 hits short of the big 1k at the time of publishing, but I managed to write this little one-off in record time, and couldn't wait. Please forgive the indulgence. 
> 
> Anyway! I don't do author notes often, but I just want to thank all of you readers for sticking with this big slice of fuzzy melodrama over the last few months. I wasn't sure if I was up to writing again when I started, but seeing the hits/kudos/bookmarks/subs trickle in has been an incredible motivator, and I'm just so happy to have an audience that enjoys my work, however small. You all rule, and every comment means the world to me.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy what's to come as well!


	15. Puddlejumping

Ku’s return to the Wellspring was rather ill-timed, as it had already begun to rain by then, but while Liti was extremely ready to set off, Zal seemed far more anxious to leave. Liti didn’t pry, though, as she could already gather the gist of why. 

_ They’ve never met their grandfather before, but they certainly seem to know a fair bit about him, _ Liti thought as she watched Ku go about drying and preening her plumage. _ But whatever family drama exists there isn’t my business, especially drama that is likely to be literally ancient.  _ Liti then had an idea, and concentrated hard to make sure she couldn’t sense Zal hiding anywhere nearby. It seemed like they were on the far end of the building at the moment with Anu, so now was the perfect opportunity. “Uh, hey, Ku?” the Moki called, the owl taking a break from grooming to give a sharp hoot of acknowledgement. “Do  _ you _ know The Tree of Nibel? You and Ori are adopted siblings, so I was just wondering if-”

Ku spun and pressed a massive wingtip into Liti’s muzzle, shushing her. She looked all around the room, likely making sure they were alone like Liti did, before hunkering down as close to Liti’s eye level as she could and nodding. 

“Can I ask some yes or no questions?” Liti asked, in a near whisper. 

Ku nodded again. 

“Have you met him before?”

Yes.

“Does Zal have cause to be concerned about meeting him, aside from the obvious nerves?”

Ku thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. No.

“Do…  _ I _ have cause to be concerned?”

Another moment of thought, twice as long as the last, followed by a shudder and an emphatic nod. Yes.

Liti recalled a few stray comments Zal had made about Ori’s past. How Ori had rarely been given a choice in things, and how some of their memories were too painful to have been shared with Zal and their siblings. There was no proof of anything yet, but an overbearing father figure could account for such things. Why, then, would she, someone unrelated, have more to worry about? Liti asked Ku one more question.

“Are  _ you _ okay with this, Ku? I just want to make sure no one in our group is suffering in silence.”

Ku’s expression warmed, and while her beak couldn’t smile, the rest of her face certainly could. She nodded, patted the Moki on the head with a wing, and then returned to her preening. 

The last hour of preparation before departure was spent going over her luggage. And then Zal’s luggage, as she had basically only packed some rations and the basic tools she had begun her journey with. The only items of significance she had were the bandanna Zal had given her, which was freshly laundered and roughly repaired after it had been left in a pretty poor state by events Liti no longer remembered, and the coil of spider-silk rope given to her by Caesi. Liti wondered if they were doing okay. They probably didn’t think much of a brief meeting with a random Moki, but the spider’s generosity had really stuck with her, not to mention saved her life once or twice. Plus, she had made a promise to pay back that generosity some day. Of all the actual reasons she had to heal her paws, that would be near the top of the list. 

Zal was even lighter-packed. Food was more a luxury than a necessity for them, and they never had any need for clothing or tools. They had packed just a small satchel with their favorite fruits and nuts, and a single, white flower of unknown origin, kept in a small, glass container for display and safe-keeping. Zal had never mentioned any particular affinity for flowers before, and while this one was vaguely familiar, meaning the old Liti had deemed  _ some _ association or surrounding memory with it important, it hadn’t been memorable enough for her to immediately recall it. It was obviously important enough, though, considering it was being brought on this journey in the first place, and was likely personal in nature, so Liti again decided not to pry. 

“Liti? Are you ready to go?” Zal said, startling the Moki as they approached. “The rain’s petering out.” 

“Yep! Just double checking our gear, all none of it!” Liti smirked at their own joke, but Zal didn’t so much as give a pity laugh.  _ Now who’s ignoring jokes?  _ Then she noticed Zal’s hand holding something tightly to their chest. “Oh, good! You have my Spirit Shard! I was worried when it wasn’t with your things.”

“Yeah, I just couldn’t wear it when I wasn’t in control of my powers. Wasn’t safe.” Zal said. “Everything’s fine now, though, so it’s good to carry.” Everything was not fine, as Liti could immediately tell.

“Zal, I can’t feel anything from you, which means you’re using it right now. Are you okay?” Liti reached out with a paw to touch her friend’s shoulder, but Zal stepped back and let go of the Shard, the empathic connection between suddenly becoming overloaded with incredibly intense anxiety mixed with just a smidge of embarrassment. “You don’t have to come if you’re this uncomfortable.”

“No!” the Spirit snapped. “Sorry... No. I’m coming. You’re going to need someone familiar with Spirit stuff by your side for this. As well as someone familiar with you and your… quirks.”

“I don’t have…” Liti started, indignant, before immediately trailing off when she put even the slightest thought into the statement. “No, yeah, I’m a mess. And you’re a good friend.” 

“Sure, let’s go with that.” Zal smiled, finally, though it was not completely genuine. That was to be expected, given their nerves, as were their very mixed emotions.

_ I wish they wouldn’t feel guilty, though. They have nothing to be ashamed of. _

* * *

“Zal, this is humiliating,” Liti complained, chafing at the rope that she had been reminiscing about what only seemed like mere minutes ago. 

“You want Aunt Ku to carry you across the sea, right? Well, you need to be able to hold on to her, and you literally don’t have functioning paws to do so,” Zal said as they and Anu finished securing the rope around Ku’s midsection. “And I am  _ not _ going to hold you the whole trip.”

“Aight, that’ll do it,” Anu said, tying his last knot. “Just don’t struggle a bunch and this’ll almost certainly hold for the whole trip.”

“ _ Almost _ certainly?” Liti audibly gulped. 

“Nothin’ in life is guaranteed, my friend,” Anu said with the utmost sincerity. “You could walk outside to fetch some water on a cloudy day, and get fried by some lightning for your trouble. Not even remotely likely, but possible. Same for this rope, it’s of… frankly astounding quality, but you never know when some freak accident might ha- Hey!” Anu rubbed his side where Zal had jabbed him with a sharp mantis arm. “It’s true!”

“No, I agree,” Liti said, which was the truth. “It definitely helps,” she added, which was a bold-faced lie. 

“Well, everything’s set, so you better get going so you can get there before sundown,” Anu said, and Zal leapt up to sit behind Liti. “I’ll hold down the fort for you all until you get back. You left quite the mess in your wake, Liti.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Liti smiled nervously. “Just keep Takk from overusing technical terms too much, and things should go okay.”

“Heh, he’ll be fine. The little squirt’s grown on me, to be honest. Half the village is thinking about nominating  _ him _ for the election at this point, despite his age, and I think if he knew he’d run screaming into the marsh and never come back. Loves teaching,  _ hates _ pressure, that one.” Anu smiled back, waved, then patted Ku on the leg. “Go get ‘em, guys. Fly safe, Auntie.”

Ku hooted in the affirmative, and had launched into the sky before Liti could even say another word, the sensation of flight wholly foreign and terrifying. Thankfully, when Ku leveled out at the appropriate altitude, the Moki’s stomach stopped doing backflips, for the most part, and the pair of passengers settled in for the trip. 

Zal was silent, for the beginning part of the trip, answering any questions or other attempts at conversation from Liti as curtly as they could without coming off as overly abrasive. Something changed, though, as Ku passed over the western beaches and officially left Niwen behind. Zal shuddered, their emotions becoming muddled and distressingly confused.

“Zal? What’s wrong?”

“It’s so… c-cold…” Zal shivered, and shifted their grip from holding onto Ku’s feathers to embracing Liti instead, as if to conserve heat in a storm. 

“It’s a little chilly up here, sure,” Liti said, confused, “but it’s been that way ever since we left the Wellspring. This has to be something else…”

“There’s… nothing h-here.” Zal’s shivering intensified. “W-We’re all alone.” And then, just as suddenly as it came on, it ceased, but not because whatever was causing it went away. Zal’s emotions had dropped out entirely as they activated the Spirit Shard hanging around their neck, and they loosened their grip on Liti. “Sorry, I expected something like that, but nearly so intense and… disturbing.”

“What happened?” Liti asked, craning her neck to look back at her friend. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” they answered with a smile, though without emotion behind it, it was an empty gesture. “It’s just, for my entire life, I’ve been surrounded by… well, I’ve never had a better term for it than ‘warmth.’ Just the feeling of the Light of Niwen all around me, like a comfortable blanket. My parents have a much keener sense of it, able to pick out every individual plant and animal in the whole forest if they concentrated, but it was always there, and the only reason I ever noticed it at all is because it’s far, far weaker in the Silent Woods. There’s a… space there, where the warmth feels very far away. I expected crossing the sea to feel like that, but…”

“But it was worse.”

“Yeah. The warmth isn’t just far away now. It’s gone altogether. We’re in an empty void, out of range of the Tree’s sight and influence. The only thing I can feel is… you.”

“Well, just cling to whatever warmth I can give you, then, because it’s not likely to get any better until we reach the opposite shore, and I don’t think you have the energy to lean on that Shard the whole way.”

“Right. Okay, I know it’s coming now, so…” Zal’s emotions snapped back in a burst of despair and fear, but a tight squeeze of Liti and some gentle reassurance in return kept them from losing themself again as they stabilized, though still shivering enough for Liti to feel it. “O-okay. I d-d-did it...”

“Just hang in there, buddy, I’ve got ya.”

“I know…” 

_ There’s that guilt again, _ Liti noted.  _ They feel guilt over something to do with me? Do they feel bad about whatever happened back in the Glades? Could it have been their fault? Those memories were removed first, before all the others. Could Liti have done it because-. _ She shook her head to emphatically dismiss the notion.  _ It doesn’t matter in the slightest. Even entertaining otherwise is pointless.  _

The trip was thankfully peaceful, with the clouds above eventually clearing and the sun shining down over the travelers. Physical warmth didn’t seem to help Zal’s situation any, but it helped the two of them stay optimistic, nonetheless. All the while, the distant shore crept closer and closer, the small details becoming more and more clear. Various extraordinarily tall landmarks jutted up across the landscape. A tree with what appeared to be waterfalls flowing out of it. Two mountains, one with a bright glow atop it, and another, larger one emitting plumes of smoke into the sky. And in the center, another truly massive tree, this one of a very familiar shape. 

“That must be him,” Liti said quietly. “Ori’s father…” Zal was too out of it to notice or respond to Liti speaking, but Ku tensed up enough for it to be felt by her passengers. And, perhaps, their approach was likewise noticed, as the cool, blue Light of this tree (which heavily contrasted with the warmer, yellow Light of Niwen) briefly flared up, sending an odd tingle down Liti’s spine, but obviously having a more pronounced effect on Zal, who stopped shivering and sat up. “Warming up?” Liti asked.

“Yes… and no,” they replied. “I don’t have the words to describe it, but this is… different. Not  _ bad _ , but... different.” The Spirit was still incredibly anxious, but it seemed that the novelty of the new feeling at least did something to take the edge off. Then the Spirit Shard stepped in to take the rest of it away.

“Zal?”

“Yeah?”

“...Nevermind. It’s nothing,” Liti lied.  _ Zal knows their stamina better than I do, so if they can handle giving themselves a little relief when they most need it, it’s none of my business.  _ Liti couldn’t rationalize away her concern, though she also couldn’t quite place  _ why _ she was concerned about this. It was almost like she-

_ Everything is falling. Mortal danger. Chances of survival are slim, at best, but I do not care. I calmly think of a plan. Blade hits stone, and the resulting sound hurts my ears. I do not care. I lose the knife, but it had done its job, so I do not care about that, either. I hit the ground, just barely cushioned enough to survive, pain briefly filling all perception. It does not matter, so I still do not care. Then I sink into the tar, every movement costing me time before the end, but my only thought is immediate survival. I secure myself with the rope, saving my life merely in the short term. The outlook is very grim, but even as the world fades to black, I still do not- _

Liti snapped back to reality, incredibly disoriented, but otherwise fine.

_ I remembered something, just like before. But it was so… empty. And single minded. I felt just like… Zal does right now. I had used the Shard? _ Liti glanced back at the Spirit, but if they knew at all that she’d had another flashback, they definitely didn’t indicate it.  _ All they’d have to go off of would be my emotions while I was experiencing it, and there were none, so that at least makes sense. _ What also made sense, now, was her concern. Zal wasn’t just suppressing their anxiety when they used the Shard. They were suppressing  _ everything. _ Their joy, their compassion, their love, even their own sense of self-preservation beyond immediate survival.  _ If they overuse it, then… then nothing! Why would they overuse it? It’s just for emergencies... or easing extreme discomfort… or... In any case, it’s not doing any harm right now, right? I’ll just… keep an eye on them. Just in case. _

Liti’s inner debate was brought to a close, though, when Ku gave a loud hoot, indicating that she was about to descend. Liti had been so caught up in the flashback and resulting thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed that the three of them had crossed the shoreline of Nibel a short while ago. They were still a fair distance from the Tree, though, so Ku’s sudden detour was strange. Regardless, the owl had made up her mind, and quickly spiraled down into a particular patch of the forest dominated by a large, rocky plateau and a gently flowing stream running in across it, the whole area dotted with many identical fruit trees, all heavily laden with the summer’s orange bounty. Ku landed near what appeared to be a large hollow in the rock, seemingly built long ago by arranging many local boulders into a cozy shelter. Crouching down and extending a wing, Ku hooted and motioned for her passengers to disembark. 

“This place is really pretty, Ku, but why did we stop here?” Liti asked as she wormed her way out from the rope that had been securing her and slid to the ground. “The sun’s about to set, and I doubt anyone will appreciate us arriving in the middle of the night.”

“I think…” Zal said, briefly gasping for breath as they deactivated the Shard, apparently having been near their limit. “I think I know this place, from an old, shared memory. This is where you two grew up, isn’t it, Ku?”

Ku nodded and let out a long, nostalgic sigh. Her reminiscing was temporarily put on hold, however, as a new, unfamiliar, and  _ very _ jovial voice spoke up. 

“Indeed it is, and it is just  _ wonderful _ to have you home after all this time, dear sister! And you brought unfamiliar-yet-not guests, too!” The trio whirled around to see a rather round and squat Spirit standing in the entrance to the cave, despite Liti not having sensed even the slightest hint of their presence or approach until the moment they spoke up. “Welcome, all of you, to Swallow’s Nest! I believe most of your stories began, more or less, right within this quaint little hole. Wanna take a look?”

  
  



	16. Contemplations and Assumptions

“I’m sorry, were you… waiting for us?” Zal said, staring at the new arrival in confusion. 

“Oh, no, I just got here!” the Spirit said practically bouncing in place with excitement. “Father sensed you coming, and sent me to greet you wherever you landed.” They were a fair bit smaller than Zal and Liti, but rather plump to make up for it, like a springy little ball of excitement with disproportionately long ears and tail. 

“But  _ how _ did you get here?” Liti asked. “I didn’t see, hear, or sense you coming…”

The Spirit ignored her question, but seemed to answer it anyway when they were suddenly gone from the spot where they had once stood, and instead standing right in front of Liti, looking her over. 

“My, my, this one’s quite the piece of work, isn’t she? Poor thing’s practically falling apart at the seams! Certainly a testament to Ori’s determination and ingenuity that you managed to get her here in one piece, though.” Liti bristled, not because of anything the Spirit had said, but rather because none of it had been said  _ to _ her. Instead, every word out of their mouth thus far had been directed at either Zal or Ku, as if Liti wasn’t even a presence worth considering. Zal placed a hand on the Moki’s shoulder to calm her before an argument started, narrowly managing to defuse the situation. 

“Sorry again, but I don’t think any of us have been properly introduced,” they said smiling awkwardly. “I’m Zal, and this is Liti. You already seem to know Ku.”

“Oh, right! Where are my manners!” Suddenly, the Spirit had vanished again, only to reappear standing atop the cave entrance, as if to remake their entrance with a bit more flare. “I am Ort, sister to Ori,” she said, bowing deeply, “though I’m sad to say that I was born well after their sudden disappearance all those years ago, I never got to meet them. You have no idea how thrilled we all were when your approach was noticed and we realized who you were!” 

“Glad to know we’re welcome, then,” Zal said.  _ And that your gift seems to be popping from place to place in an instant, _ they noted silently. _ How is that not exhausting?  _ “Anyway, you wanted us to look inside there…?” 

“Well, it’s more for Ku’s sake than yours,” Ort said, “but I think you’ll appreciate it, too, Zal.”

“How is Ku supposed to fit through that opening, though?” Liti asked. “You don’t have the ability to compact yourself, do you?” She added, turning to the great owl. “Honest question.” 

Ku rolled her eyes, but didn’t get to do much more before Ort popped up beside her, placed a hand on her leg, and then vanished for a fourth time, this time taking Ku with her and leaving nothing but a rush of air filling the space she previously occupied.

“Aunt Ku!” Zal called out, and a disoriented hoot answered from inside the cave, followed by Ort’s voice.

“She’s fine, we’re in here!” And sure enough, when the pair stepped inside, they found Ku, just barely able to stand in the tallest part of the cave, but keenly interested in something by her feet regardless. 

“So, what’s so special… about…” Liti began as she and Zal approached Ku, trailing off when she caught sight of the murals. “Those are beautiful! Who painted them?”

“ _ Shhh! _ ” Zal shushed Liti before taking a few tentative steps forward and kneeling in front of the lowermost mural, overcome with a feeling they didn’t quite understand. It was hardly the most extravagant or masterful art piece, just a simple rendition of five figures in black and white paints, worn with age, but still recognizable: a Spirit, a Wisp, an owl, and two more creatures that Zal had never once seen but knew intimately well nonetheless. “ _ Ori. Sein. Kuro. Naru. Gumo. _ ” The Spirit recited the names under their breath as the sight conjured foreign scraps of memory with such potent and conflicting emotions attached that they instinctively reached for the Spirit Shard around their neck, not caring that they didn’t have the stamina left to safely use it. The only thing that stopped them was a sudden splash of something wet on their shoulder bringing them back to reality. Another drop hit them and they looked up to see their aunt standing over them, large tears rolling off her face. “Aunt Ku?”

It was then that Zal felt Liti’s stone forepaw on their shoulder, and the Moki pointed awkwardly with the other, directing Zal to follow Ku’s line of sight to the second, smaller mural, depicting Ori and an owlet, drawn far more crudely than the one below it.  _ That’s them, together as young siblings. Did one of them draw that themselves? _

“We’ve kept this nest as well-preserved as we possibly could after you and Ori disappeared in that storm, and the rest of your assembled family followed in search,” Ort said, her earlier exuberance replaced by solemn reverence. “At first my older siblings kept it tidy for when you all returned. But eventually one season passed, and then another, and it soon became clear that you likely never would. Now it’s just… a monument, I guess. We all owe Ori everything, so if all we could keep for them was an honored memory, then that is what we would do. We honestly thought you both had perished that night, in a freak tragedy, too far from the land to even leave a tree with their Light behind for us to find.”

“Ort…” Zal began, only for the newly-met aunt to immediately brighten up.

“But you  _ did _ come back! And Ori… Ori didn’t die, or run away, as some of the more cynical among us believed. They found another Light, and achieved the greatest purpose and honor a Guardian Spirit could ever aspire to!” Ort launched into a tackling embrace of Zal, squeezing them as tightly as her short arms could manage. “You’re their legacy, Zal. Swallow’s Nest belongs to you just as much as it did to them, and to Ku. Nibel welcomes you both with open arms, and we can’t wait for you to catch us all up on everything! Last I heard before I came to meet you, Father had asked my siblights to organize a great feast for you two!”

“Thank you,” Zal said, now almost crying themselves. “I-” They cut themselves off, though, when the cocktail of confusion and frustration pouring off of Liti made them realize that the strangeness in Ort’s behavior earlier wasn’t a single occurrence. “Nibel… welcomes us  _ both _ , and the feast will be for the  _ two _ of us?”

“Yes? Is something wrong?”

“I mean…” Zal looked at Liti, and Ort followed their gaze. 

“Oooooh,  _ duh _ !” Ort slapped herself on the forehead. “How could I have been so inconsiderate?  _ Of course _ you can bring your pet!”

“ _ PET?!? _ ” Liti exploded, launching herself at Ort, who deftly vanished and reappeared a few feet away. Undeterred, Liti spun and prepared to press the attack, only to be stopped by Zal’s arm stretching out and binding the Moki’s hind legs in a sort of liquid vice, preventing her from going anywhere. 

“Take us... outside, Ort,” Zal forcefully suggested as they struggled to keep their enraged companion from doing something she’d regret. For her part, Ort nodded, and suddenly all four of them were back outside the cave where they had landed, though the strain and exhaustion caused by moving so many of them at once was clearly visible in the Spirit’s posture. 

“Let me go, Zal!” Liti shouted, and Zal obliged, though the suddenness of it caused the Moki to faceplant before she could even try to pounce on Ort again. 

“We’re going to talk this out,” Zal said, “Because  _ I really hope _ there’s a misunderstanding here. Ort, Liti is my  _ friend _ , not my  _ pet _ . She’s a person like you or me or Ku.” The owl nodded in agreement.

“You mean she’s…  _ not _ a temporarily uplifted beast?” Ort asked, now extremely confused.

“What? No!” Zal shouted back, now taking their turn to be completely baffled. “That’s a thing?”

“Not a  _ remotely common _ thing, obviously, but this wouldn’t be the first time that a Lightless creature had a Tree’s Light bestowed upon them, either as an act of mercy, or experimentation, or by complete accident. The mindless beasts of Nibel have been known to benefit somewhat from the gift of a mind for a short while before... expiring, and I just assumed that…” Ort turned to Liti, who was still seething, with the utmost sincerity in her eyes. “I am  _ so _ sorry! We’ve never seen a creature like you before, and here in Nibel, Lightless minds died out ages ago when Ori’s family left. They were the last of their kinds, to our knowledge. So, when our father sensed Ori’s gift within you, he... he must have made a false assumption and passed that on to the rest of us!”

“That… makes sense, I suppose,” Liti said, starting to calm down. 

_ Except for the part where so many “assumptions” made about the world outside of Nibel seem to be accepted as fact, _ Zal thought. 

“And, to be fair, you  _ do _ look  _ just _ like an off-color version of the otters that live around the Ginso Tree, just with longer legs, ears, and tail. I honestly thought you were an overseas relative of theirs, and they’re certainly not going to express anything beyond base instincts any time soon.” 

“Huh.” Liti finally cracked a smile, though it was short lived as she realized the implications of what Ort had said, and she slumped to the ground with a loud groan. “I’m going to have to explain that I’m not a pet to  _ every single person _ we meet here, aren’t I?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This update's a bit on the short side, but it's either that or it being way too long and taking forever to come out combined with what comes next, so this is preferable. 
> 
> I also updated the tags and summary for this story a bit, since it has far outstripped my initial vision and ambitions for it in scope and themes, and was just generally under-tagged to begin with. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	17. Potential Portents

Liti, Zal, and Ku spent the night in Swallow’s Nest while Ort teleported back to try and smooth things over with the rest of their family. Each of the trio slept in a different place, though. Liti slept in an old bed in the cave Ort had supplied with fresh straw for at Zal’s insistence, as it was the most comfortable and restful place to sleep. Even with a day’s worth of sitting on Ku doing nothing, Liti’s front legs were in a fair bit of pain by the time the sun finally set. Zal, however, couldn't stand to be in that room for too long. The recollections were overwhelming. Instead, they shacked up in a hollow tree that apparently used to be used for storage, though it seems that the Nest’s Spirit caretakers had long since moved the various trinkets and mementos kept there to a less exposed location. Ku could not fit in either location, and thus found the best shelter she could among the trees of the orchard, and Liti got the feeling that these specific trees were comforting to her. 

Liti dreamt that night, but by the time she was even out of bed the next morning, it had all but faded from her mind. It was an interview, of sorts. She asked a question, and someone answered. But none of it stuck. Not the question, nor the answer, nor the identity of who she was talking to. All that remained was a feeling of unease, like she had gotten a very cryptic answer to whatever question she had asked, and hadn’t been able to figure it out before she woke up. Still, everyone had odd dreams from time to time, at least she assumed, so it wasn’t something she felt was worth much thought. 

Her choice of breakfast felt obvious. It’d be a shame not to sample any of the fruit that grew everywhere she looked outside, and they were so ready to fall off that Liti even managed to harvest a few just by forcefully thumping a paw on the trunk of one of the smaller trees. Gripping one between her forepaws, she brought it up to her face to appreciate before taking the first bite. It was just about the most perfect fruit she had ever seen, perfectly ripe and without blemish. The aroma was pleasantly sweet, but now overpoweringly so, like some more sour fruits tended to be. Liti took her first bite, ready to savor this moment of peace and pleasant sensations.

She promptly gagged and spit the fruit out. 

“I- wha- _ack!_ ” she sputtered, repeatedly tripping over herself as she ran to the nearby stream to wash the rotten taste from her mouth. Lapping up as much as she could helped, but she just couldn’t get rid of that taste entirely, soon realizing that even the water had taken on that flavor, ever so slightly. “Oh no. No no no no…” Hoping with all her heart that she’d just bitten into a particularly bad fruit that tainted her sense of taste in the short term, Liti returned to the cave and pulled a piece of dried and seasoned jerky from her pack that she’d brought as a treat. She had no idea what her favorite food actually was, but of the things she’d eaten since forgetting, this had been her favorite. But a tentative nibble confirmed her worst fears. It tasted the same as the fruit, and her stomach simply refused to let her swallow even that small of a piece.

“...Liti?” Zal said with a yawn from the cave entrance, just as Liti finished spitting out the tiny piece of jerky. “You okay?”

“Y-yeah,” the Moki lied. “Just accidentally inhaled my breakfast instead of swallowing it, is all. Panicked and nearly choked.”

“Haha, yeah, just be carefull. When I sensed you freaking out, I was afraid it was something far worse.” Zal flashed a bright smile, which Liti returned, but the tension in the air was fairly obvious to them both. “Anyway, Ort should be back soon with word on where we should go and who we should meet next. Nibel isn’t like Niwen. There are so many Spirits living here that very rarely do any of them get, well, personal time with their father, otherwise he’d be occupied at all hours of the day and there’d still be Spirits waiting for a chance. That means there’s procedures to follow and schedules to be made, though I’m sure we’ll get preferential treatment because of how important our visit is to them.”

“I see.” Normally, this would be where Liti exploded with questions and musings about the way things worked around here, but she just couldn’t muster the energy to indulge her curiosity. Not after learning that her situation was getting far worse far quicker than she had anticipated. “Well, I’ll be out in a minute. Just gotta re-pack.”

“Okay, just don’t push yourself. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

“You got it, I’ll be fine,” Liti said, the audible growl of her empty stomach all but outright screaming that she wouldn’t. Thankfully, Zal lacked the context to realize that at that moment, and walked back out towards the orchard without a second thought. _My sense of taste is… broken. Is that going to be the end of it, or will my other senses start failing like that, too? Am I going to spend my final days blind, deaf, and numb... or worse?_ Liti thumped her forehead with a paw, snapping herself out of her rampant catastrophizing. _Worrying about it won’t do me or anyone else any good! Just gotta hold out for a little longer so the Tree can fix it. No need for Zal to worry any more than they already are. I can do this! I’m strong enough!_

Liti’s legs were already beginning to ache. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Grove Town, as the Spirits of Nibel called it, was the largest settlement in the forest, and had sprung up around the roots of the Spirit Tree in the decades after Ori’s departure. Just as each Spirit was unique in shape and function, each building was of greatly varying architecture, having been designed and led in construction by the primary resident of said building. Ort explained to Zal that it was rite of passage, of sorts. A demonstration that a Spirit was experienced enough with their Gift to craft a living space using said ability specifically to cater to that ability, and mature enough not to overextend and ask for help if they needed it. Ort’s house had multiple floors with no stairs or ramps, for instance, and she had built it by teleporting each piece precisely into place, and had another, stronger Spirit nail said pieces together to keep the structure stable. But, of course, Spirits still made pilgrimages from outlying villages all the time, so general-purpose accommodations were always ready for visitors, and one of these houses would be where Liti and Zal would wait for their appointment. Ku had left to hunt, and to visit familiar places, and would check back in that evening. Ort led the pair from the town’s Spirit Well to the house, excitedly giving a tour along the way. 

“Oh! And over here is the hollow where we cultivate the Light Crystals that naturally occur all over the forest!” Ort explained, pointing at a small dome covering the entrance to a small quarry dug into the earth. “Do you have the crystals where you come from, Zal?” 

“Yeah, but I didn’t know you could grow them on purpose,” Zal answered, though they were having trouble paying attention. Spirits were _everywhere_ around here, crowding the streets, enjoying communal meals in outdoor dining areas, cloud gazing from the rooftops, and Zal could sense the presences and emotions of each and every one of them. Just an overwhelming swirl of happiness and contentment, tinged with curiosity as various locals caught sight of Liti, occasionally followed by pangs of pity. Zal was on the verge of being overwhelmed, and they’d only been in town for a few minutes at best. “How can you stand this, Ort?” Zal asked.

“Stand what?”

“Everything being so… crowded. I can barely think straight and tell my own emotions from those of everyone around me.”

“Oh, huh.” Ort stopped to think. “I was born into this, so I never really gave it any thought. I guess I just kinda… tune it out, like crickets or birdsong. There… really aren’t many of us where you come from, I’m guessing?”

“No. It’s rare for there to be more than two of us in any one spot. How’re you holding up, Liti? You’re even less experienced with this than I am.” When Liti didn’t respond, Zal turned around to look for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. “Liti!” In this crowd, Zal didn’t have a chance of sensing the Moki’s location. The locals began to stare as they began darting around frantically, but one kind soul, a tall, gangly Spirit, decided to approach. 

“Your fuzzy pal went down that alley, towards Nir’s Shrine,” they said, pointing to a small road between two nearby buildings. “My friend from out in Black Root had the same thing happen when he brought his pet leaper with him on a visit. Poor things need leashes when around big crowds, since they get overstimulated.”

“Okay thanks bye!” Zal shifted into a swift sparrow and zoomed off in the direction the Spirit had indicated, not even bothering to contest the pet assumption. After some deft weaving in around and over the crowd, they reached the alleyway, Ort popping into existence beside them. “That guy said there was a shrine down this way?” Zal tweeted. 

“Yeah, it’s a… grave site, essentially,” Ort answered, slightly uneasy. “I don’t know why your friend would be drawn here, though, unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Just a weird hunch, but I’ll wait until we find Liti to confirm it.” The two continued down the narrow, winding path, Ort often having to teleport ahead to keep up. Soon enough, though, they came to the entrance of the shrine, and could clearly sense Liti inside.

“Liti?” Zal called, fluttering through the archway made of woven vines and branches. “Liti, what happened? We almost lost… you...” The Spirit’s words faltered at the sight of their friend, who sat at the base of a small, gnarled tree, her head bowed in reverence. The tree itself was without leaves, but instead flickered with a soft, blue light at its core. “Is that an…”

“Ancestral Tree, yes,” Ort finished. “It is all that remains of Nir, a hero not as renowned as Ori, but a hero nonetheless.”

“It was such a simple, silly problem,” Liti said softly, without looking up. “The spring that fed this town’s water wells had dried up, and it was determined that there was a blockage deep underground that needed to be removed. Doing so safely would take months, and the lack of water would result in the loss of a decent amount of crops just before harvest. Of course, Spirits didn’t strictly need to eat physical food, at least not in amounts that this setback would make completely unavailable. It’d just be tight for a season. But the Tree had a potential solution, one that would restore the spring quickly, presumably without endangering anyone. But there are more dangers in this world than bodily ones…”

“How… How do you know all this?” Zal asked, completely lost. 

“I… saw it, I think,” Liti said. “Or it was… shown to me? I was told?” She turned and looked at Zal, a great sorrow in her eyes and her heart. “I saw him sneak into the alley as we passed by. He was in so much pain, I had to try and help him! But he’s been gone a very long time...” 

“What are you talking about? Who did you see?”

“She saw an Echo,” Ort explained. “I was afraid of that.”

“Echo?”

“We Spirits are always radiating our Light, everywhere we go, and in times of great strain or emotional resonance, that Light can leave an imprint behind of events and associated emotions as they happened. That’s an Echo.” 

“But… I’ve never seen one before, and I’ve been to all sorts of places strongly associated with other Spirits before,” Zal said. 

“Only a Wisp, or someone closely bonded to one, like a Spirit Tree, can see them. According to Father, Ori saw many on their journey with Sein, and Father can witness them himself, should he seek one out. If Liti has a fragment of a Ori’s Light within her, and Ori’s Light is one with your forest’s Wisp…”

“Then… the Light within her is also a Wisp, or at least close enough to count?” Zal wondered. 

“Nir… volunteered for the Tree’s mission, eager to save the day and earn the respect of his siblings,” Liti continued, returning to staring at the ground, her ears drooping with the rest of her posture. “He was selected from all the other volunteers for his determination and enthusiasm, and was granted a very special Gift by the Tree to accomplish his task, a sacred power housed within Sein themself. He accomplished his task with seeming ease, restoring the spring and saving the harvest, but no one thought to consider what exactly using that power entailed…”

“What… was it?” Zal asked, unsure if they even wanted the answer. 

“Soul Link,” Ort said, with a peculiar disdain in her voice. “It links the Spirit who uses it to Time itself, dragging their consciousness back to the point when that link was established should the worst happen, allowing them as many chances for success at their task as they need. It is unfathomably powerful, and essentially foolproof. So long as one is linked, they cannot fail at anything if they keep trying and success is even remotely possible.”

“So that’s how Nir was able to clear the Spring safely, then. He got to keep doing dangerous, risky things until something worked.” Zal scratched their head, confused by the end result of all this. “So, what was the problem? Nir saved the day without consequences and came back a hero.”

“There _were_ consequences, just... not ones that anyone could see or anticipate.” Ort sighed, and turned their gaze to the tree before them. “Zal, do you know what it feels like to die?”

“...No?”

“A Soul Link has the user keep their memories from their previous ‘attempts,’ otherwise they wouldn’t know what to correct on the next one, so Nir _did_. He never told anyone how many tries it took him to accomplish his mission without something horrific happening, but even once would have been…” Ort shuddered.

“He couldn’t live with those memories,” Liti said, standing and returning to the others. “So he broke his last link, and... chose not to come back, taking the power with him.”

“Liti, are you-”

“Let’s go, I’m done here,” Liti said coldly, and began walking back the way they came.

“Right, no need to dwell on the past like this,” Ort said, and walked up beside the limping Moki. “Here, let me just get you to your lodging. You’ve already walked farther than is healthy for you just to get here, no need to push yourself further.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“I’ll be right back to lead you the rest of the way and finish the tour, Zal. I’d be pushing my own limits if I took you both.”

“Sure, I’ll wait for you back on the road,” Zal replied, and Ort vanished along with Liti, leaving them to make their way back and contemplate a new, grim realization in silence. _Did Ori… use Soul Link? Everything I’ve heard and been told about that adventure with Sein made it seem like they accomplished seemingly impossible things and only barely survived any given leg of the journey, and if Sein themselves is the one who grants that power, then… it’d go a long way explaining why they refuse to share memories of that time. How many tries did it take them? Why were they able to move on from that experience while Nir couldn’t?_

It was a very unpleasant idea to contemplate, and not exactly relevant to the situation at hand, so Zal finally decided to shelve the thought. They’d have a long talk with their parent about it when they returned home. 

_Liti should participate in that as well, I think. It’ll be therapeutic for her, Light knows she’s going to need it..._


	18. Imbued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long. Things have been rough in the world lately, but I haven't given up just yet. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Liti collapsed on a nearby cushion the moment Ort dropped her off and vanished to continue guiding Zal, completely spent. She’d put on a good show, attempting to walk away from Nir’s grave like nothing was wrong, but in truth she wouldn’t have even made it back to the main street. And she was asleep within a minute, not even having time to process her tumultuous emotions. That would be a job for her dreams. 

* * *

_Welcome back, I was wondering if we would have another chance to speak before decisions would have to be made._

“Back?” Liti wondered aloud before remembering. “Oh, right, I spoke with you last night, didn’t I? I don’t really remember any of it, I’m afraid.” Her consciousness was in a void, much like when Ori had saved her life. The foreign presence that spoke to her was not one she recognized, but seemed to tickle some sort of nascent memory within her anyway. This was clearly someone she had forgotten. Their voice was strange, though, in a way she couldn’t describe. It sounded like it came across an unimaginable distance, and yet from nowhere. Distorted, but somehow clearer than her own thoughts. 

_It is fine, I remember what was said, and what you proposed. I do not hold the suggestion against you, despite its selfishness._

“Who… are you?” Liti asked.

_I am ❚❚❚, but that does not matter right now._

The voice’s identity came out garbled, as if Liti’s mind couldn’t conceptualize it somehow.

_What does matter is that we are at a crossroads. One that I will not get a choice in the direction taken. Like I said, you made your opinion very clear when last we spoke, and while I was hurt at first, your experience at that shrine just now... shed more light on the problem. I now realize that I agree with you, after all. I accept your terms, as in the end I do not matter. One last concession for the sake of someone I care about is a fine way for it all to end, I think._

“Wait, what terms? What are you talking about?”

 _It would take more time than we have to explain, I am afraid. Just know this: you have the right to decide who you want to be, and no relics of the past should have any such power over you. You have my support, Liti, no matter your path. You deserve to be happy, same as anyone. This will likely be the last time we speak, but I have said all that needs to be said. Rest now, friend, and goodbye._

Before Liti could say anything else, the void faded, her consciousness finally slipping off into a deep sleep…

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Well, it’s about that time,” Zal said, smiling weakly as they paced back and forth in front of the door, absolutely radiating anxiety. 

“We’re... going to be fine,” Liti yawned. Ort would be by any minute to take Liti to the base of the tree, while another attendant would escort Zal. She’d only been awake for an hour, but was surprisingly calm, all things considered. Her dreamlike encounter was far clearer in her memory this time around, and she’d managed to suss out what exactly the voice had meant, or at least her own interpretation of it. 

“Yeah, just gotta remember that- GAH!” Zal leapt several feet into the air as Ort materialized beside them, shifting into a hummingbird to remain up there. 

“Sorry!” Ort grinned sheepishly. “It’s time, though. Liti, if you’d take my hand.” A knock on the door rang out as Liti ambled over to Ort. “And that would be your escort, Zal. The Well is only a couple minutes away if you walk at a brisk pace, so we’ll see you soon.” The moment Liti’s stone paw made contact with Ort’s hand, the scenery around them instantly changed, and they found themselves upon an ornate stone dias with a bright blue light in the genter. It was a Spirit Well, one far fancier and more intricate in design than any Liti had seen in Niwen. But it was the landmark across a small field from the Well that was truly important. 

While the Spirit Tree of Nibel was visible from just about anywhere in the land, his actual scale only became appreciable to Liti once she was right in front of him. He shared a general shape with Ori, a clear sign of the latter’s parentage, but was far, far larger, having been around for an untold amount of time longer compared to his already ancient-seeming child. It was rather ironic, then, that the Tree had reached a size so large that Liti wasn’t really intimidated by him any longer. He was old and powerful, but past a certain point size really didn’t matter. A falling boulder and a falling mountain were equally deadly, when all was said and done. Still, respect was more than due, so Liti bowed before the Tree.

“Father, this is Liti, a friend of Ori who seeks your aid!” Ort called out. “Ori’s own child, Zal, will be with us shortly.”

“ _Thank you, Ort, you have done well to bring them here,_ ” the Tree’s voice boomed within their minds, which thankfully Liti was prepared for. “ _That will be all. Please leave us._ ”

“O-oh. Of course!” She gave Liti a supportive smile before vanishing, so now it was just the Moki and the Tree.

“ _Rise, small one,_ ” the Tree commanded, and Liti gladly obliged. “ _If you would permit it, we would like to evaluate you and your condition. There is only so much that can be gleaned without being somewhat… invasive._ ”

“Please do,” Liti responded. “I have nothing to hide.” 

“ _Step off of the platform, then remain still. This will be uncomfortable, but painless._ ”

Liti did as she was told, and as soon as her paws touched the grass, small, delicate vines sprouted around her, and snaked partwary up her legs, glowing blue with the Tree’s Light at their tips. She felt a prodding at the edges of her consciousness as the Tree examined her, but the contents of her mind were far less interesting to him than the Light that resided alongside it. 

“ _This is Ori’s handiwork, without a doubt!_ ” said a second, softer voice. Liti could only assume that it was the Tree’s Wisp. “ _Even after all these years, they still weave and focus Spirit Light in much the same style.”_

“ _Even so, their ingenuity has only bought this creature some time. Time which has almost run out. The forces within her have ravaged her body in their combat, which has only been worsened by whatever has damaged her mind. She will not survive the week._ ”

“ _We can help her, though, right? I can think of at least two ways, one of which even solves her other problem!_ ”

“ _We could, however-_ ” the Tree’s response was interrupted at the Well behind Liti flared to life, depositing Zal in their midst. “ _Welcome, Child of Ori,_ ” the Tree said warmly. “ _I thank you for making this journey, your arrival has healed a great wound within the hearts of our family. A family which you are also a part of, by right._ ”

“Can you heal her?” Zal asked, tersely, dispensing with any and all introductions. The anxiety from before was still there, but had been subsumed by a new drive: Determination. “That is why we came. Not for reconnection, or reconciliation. Those can come later. But right now, Liti, my friend, _Ori’s_ friend, needs your help.”

“ _I see,_ ” the Tree said flatly. “ _I know of ways to save her, yes._ ” Zal’s face brightened for what seemed like the first time in ages. “ _However, I will not._ ”

“ _What!?_ ” the Wisp exclaimed, speaking up before even the clearly incensed Zal could. “ _Why should this one be condemned when we have the power to help?_ ”

“ _Because it is costly and serves no purpose, Sein,_ ” the Tree answered. “ _The cleansing power of the Element of Waters is not infinite, and using it on such an advanced corruption would leave it drained and unable to do so again for months, should one of our children require it._ ”

“ _It has been ages since that has been necessary, a span of months is unlikely to be a large risk._ ”

“ _Even a small risk is not worth taking when the value of what is gained is so small._ ” Zal opened their mouth to object, but the Tree elaborated. “ _The Lightless are finite, transitory. They are valuable and worth protecting, but it must always be kept in mind that keeping just one alive will only guarantee a few short years out of their body and soul, before they pass and return to the earth. We, through our continued guardianship, are worth a multitude of them, for we protect multitudes across our time. You do not realize it yet, Zal, for you are barely older than this one, but all the years of friendship you could have together would only amount to a minuscule portion of your life in the long run. Light is eternal, and attaching oneself to that which is not only causes suffering when that attachment inevitably withers and dies. I had hoped Ori would learn that lesson eventually, but it would seem not._ ”

“That isn’t fair!” Zal shouted, and the Tree almost seemed taken aback by the outburst. “Liti sacrificed everything to save our home! She deserves far more than whatever moral mathematics you’re applying to her life!”

“I think I-” Liti began to say, only to be stopped by a very sharp prodding in the back of her mind.

“ _Please do not interject, Liti,_ ” said Sein, their voice conveyed in such a way that Liti could tell that the message was only heard by her. “ _Your words cannot convince him of anything, for he does not value their source. I will do what I can, but then you should let Zal finish. I suspect they have more weighing on them that needs to come to light before we proceed._ ” They then spoke again, this time audible to everyone. “ _What of the other potential solution? That would not require an expensive cleansing and would come with many other benefits befitting such heroism._ ”

“ _There are natural orders to this world that should not be tampered with, Sein. The risk incurred in such a course is even greater, as no amount of foresight could predict the consequences, even if none are readily apparent._ ”

“ _Yes, but would it not be prudent to learn-_ ” Sein’s point was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass, and Liti turned to see that Zal had drawn the small case with the white flower in it from their pack, and smashed it on the ground. They said nothing, simply opting to stare at the Tree as the wind picked up the flower and lazily carried it away. Strangely enough, though, the plant seemed to dissolve into light before it traveled far, the multitude of motes sinking to the ground before fading.

“What… What was that?” Liti asked, utterly lost. 

“A message,” Zal answered, never breaking their gaze from its target.

What followed was something Liti honestly never expected. The Tree was overcome with a very peculiar feeling, one strong enough to be felt even through his well-practiced facade of calm detachment. It was a mix of nostalgia, regret, and… pride? In the spot where the flower had vanished, an identical one grew, softly glowing in the morning sun. After a solid minute of silence, the Tree finally spoke.

“ _Long ago,_ ” the Tree began, “ _I, in my most desperate hour, passed my will for the survival of Nibel on to Ori with these exact flowers. They are a symbol of hope, and the designation of one of my children chosen for roles of the utmost importance. However, I… never considered that one of my children could do the same in kind. Liti, though you are not one of us, you are nonetheless the recipient of Ori’s will._ ”

“Ori’s… will…?” Realization flashed within Liti’s mind, as she finally recalled where she had seen that flower before. 

_“It’s the Forest’s blessing, Liti,”_ Zal had said about the flower, on the day the two first met. _“Consider yourself deputized.”_ Liti had never given much thought to the flower itself, even when she had been proud enough of that memory to preserve it. 

“ _We should have seen it when we first observed Ori’s Light within you,_ ” Sein said. “ _The intention of their gift. Ori simply wants you to_ **_live_ ** _, Liti._ ”

“My parent’s will is not like yours,” Zal said. “Your will decided Ori’s fate. Ori’s will is for our fate to be our own. I have… carried part of that feeling, that resentment, within me all my life, never truly understanding its source until now. If you refuse to help, even knowing the pain you have caused, then I’ll know they were right. I’ll know that all that matters to you is the preservation of your ‘natural’ order, the choices, feelings, and even lives of others be damned.” Silence fell across the meadow, leaving only the sound of distant birdsong. The Tree’s feelings became guarded again as well. Liti just looked back and forth between the two parties, wracking her brain to figure out what she could even say right now. After a while of this, though, Zal had had enough. “Let’s go, Liti. We’ll find some other way.” Their voice was stern and unwavering, but their underlying emotions betrayed just how defeated they were, on the verge of despair.

“ _No, that will not be necessary,_ ” the Tree finally said. “ _You are correct that I have acted in… narrow interests in the past, and I am not without regret for the damage caused. Ori has every right to resent the burden I placed upon them, and has more than earned what is ultimately a simple, though highly unusual request. This shall be a show of good will, from the protector of one land to that of another. As equals, rather than as parent and child. We shall purge the Decay from Liti’s form._ ”

“So, what’s the catch?” Liti asked, finally speaking up. “Sein mentioned that there were two possible methods to do this. That wouldn’t be the case if there weren’t tradeoffs or sacrifices to be made.” Her voice was oddly calm and cold for someone who just learned that they weren’t going to die a horrible, agonizing death in a few days anymore. 

“ _You are quite perceptive, Liti,_ ” Sein said. “ _There is indeed a decision to be made, though while both choices have drastic consequences, only one of them would be actively harmful to you in the long run._ ”

“Start with that one, then,” Zal said. “Let’s get the uncomfortable choice out of the way so we don’t have to dread hearing it for as long.”

“ _Very well,_ ” the Tree began. “ _As we mentioned, the Element of Waters has the power to cleanse any and all impurities. It passively purifies the waters that are drawn from deep underground by the Ginso Tree, rendering them suitable for the plants and creatures of Nibel. It can also purify a living creature, though this is an energy-intensive process._ ”

“ _The Element could cleanse you of your affliction with relative ease,_ ” Sein said. “ _However, the drawback comes from the fact that it is simply too powerful for precision work. It would cleanse you of not only Decay, but of everything not naturally a part of you. Ori’s Light would be purged, taking the memories locked within along with it. This is necessary, of course, as the Light would still destroy your body were it to remain._ ”

“Well, that’s definitely out of the question, then,” Zal said, not noticing the odd look Liti shot them as they said it. “What’s the other way?”

“ _We extract Ori’s Light, and give it shape,_ ” the Tree answered. “ _The Lightless body will die, but a new Spirit will be born in its place, with all of the thoughts and memories of the old form intact. It is an unprecedented opportunity for any creature, to ascend beyond their mortal limits. She would be the first of her kind._ ”

“That’s… That’s _amazing!_ ” Zal shouted, leaping to Liti’s side to embrace her with a signature spider-hug. “This fixes _everything,_ Liti! You get your memory back, and you don’t just get your body fixed, you get an even _better_ one!” Liti didn’t respond, but Zal was too excited to notice, turning back to the Tree. “Let’s get it started now! I don’t want to waste another-”

“No.” Liti pushed Zal off of her, a cold determination in her voice and demeanor. “I choose the cleansing.” Silence again fell across the pair as they stared at each other. Zal was dumbfounded, unsure if they had even heard their friend correctly, but Liti had never been more sure of anything in her life. “I want it gone. All of it. And I never want it back.”


	19. One Moki's Trash...

“You… You’re joking, right?” Zal said, a rising panic in their voice. They knew full well that Liti was dead serious. The Spirit shifted to Anu’s form, not even bothering to modify it, and slumped to the ground, resting their back against the edge of the Spirit Well. “But… Why?”

“I’ve been presented with two ways of moving forward with my life, one as I am now, and one as… someone else.” Liti limped over to Zal and sat beside them. “I don’t want to relive any more of that person’s pain. The few recollections of it I’ve had were more than enough to convince me.”

“‘That person?’” Zal repeated incredulously. “‘Someone else?’ Liti, that was  _ you. _ Those were  _ your _ memories!”

“Was it? Was it  _ really _ ? Zal, I look back on the time we’ve shared, and I can’t recognize the person who was doing the talking. She was  _ so driven _ to do something _ , anything, _ and I have no idea why. I just want to live with people I care about and share a good life with them. I want to be happy! The Liti you’re talking about threw everything away, multiple times, even, to solve problems a few days faster than they would have been otherwise. She did a lot of good, but…” Liti, if she could even be called that anymore, sighed, her ears drooping. “She didn’t care about herself, and in doing so, she forgot to care about how  _ you _ felt. Every sacrifice she made hurt you more than it hurt her, because you blame yourself for every single way she harmed herself, while she was too single minded to give it a second thought. You deserve a better friend than her, and I intend to be one for you.”

“You… She…” Zal stammered, having trouble organizing their thoughts on it all until she activated Liti’s Spirit Shard out of desperation. “You’re right. Of course you’re right, but I  _ did _ play a part in those sacrifices, and, to be honest, the thought of letting that old version of you disappear forever feels like a death. One Liti dying so that a new one can live, and some part of me feels like it’s my fault. Like I’m stabbing the first real friend I ever had in the back. Like I’m the one killing her.” The Spirit stood up, and clambered on top of the Well. “I need to think on this more, but you’ve clearly made up your mind. I’ll catch up with you later, whoever you decide you are.” They vanished in a flash of light, leaving Liti alone with the Tree. 

“ _ That crystal they bore. It is not something we are familiar with here in Nibel, but it seemed to refract their Light on a fundamental level, _ ” the Tree observed. 

“We call them Spirit Shards,” Liti explained. “I don’t know what they are, exactly, and they’re kinda rare, but they seem to be naturally occurring in Niwen. They all do different things when supplied with Spirit Light. One of them was what was used to extract my memories, though it broke when it did so. The one Zal has used to belong to me. It eliminates emotions so the bearer can think clearly.”

“ _ That would explain a fair bit of their inner turmoil during this whole discussion, _ ” Sein said. “ _ It was clear that they were holding back from something part of them really wanted the whole time, which only exacerbated their frustration. It seems they crave that emptiness and stability, even if the driving force of their passion is their strongest motivator. It… isn’t healthy. _ ”

“ _Indeed,_ ” the Tree concurred. “ _One must not mistake level-headedness for objectivity. Desires are not emotions, they are goals, and pursuing one without fear or compassion to temper it can be dangerous. Especially if that desire becomes an addiction to the very thing that causes them to pursue it single mindedly._ ”

“Wait, addiction?” Liti half-shouted, immediately getting defensive. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. They’re just… going through a lot right now, is all.”

“ _ No conclusions have been reached, but the possibility remains. Your own situation takes precedent for now, but Zal should be confronted on this matter once it is resolved, lest they risk being consumed by their desire for apathy. _ ” The Tree then emitted a bright blue pulse of light into the air. “ _ I will not pretend to understand your decision to cleanse the Light within you, but it is still your choice to make. I have sent for an escort to take you to the Ginso Tree. Time is of the essence, I’m afraid. _ ” 

“Are we in that much of a hurry?” Liti asked. “I feel… fin… fi…” A sudden wave of lethargy swept over the Moki’s body, and she instantly collapsed into a heap, only barely comprehending that the Tree’s probing vines had also been supporting her failing body until just now as darkness swiftly overtook her. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Ku’s tour of Nibel over the past day had been refreshing, though not remotely as cathartic as she had hoped. As it turned out, it’s hard to have feelings for places you’ve literally never been, as much of this land had only been briefly witnessed by her during her first flight, before that storm had uprooted her life and firmly planted it in Nibel from then on. Even the site of her mother’s long-abandoned nest, where her siblings had perished before she ever hatched, stirred nothing but anger that the Spirits had not deemed it worth preserving like Swallow’s Nest, as a reminder of the grave mistakes made in the past and their consequences. As such, she decided to return to the Nest and think about what to do next. 

_ Should I seek out Zal and Liti and join them? _ she wondered.  _ No, my presence would be more disrupting than anything to their task, and I’ve no desire to meet the Tree. Any possible apology he could give for his failure became hollow and meaningless ages ago. _ The question became moot, however, as she spotted a Spirit she could only assume to be Zal wandering around Swallow’s Nest aimlessly as she approached. They looked up and waved at the owl half heartedly as she touched down in front of them.  _ Shouldn’t you be with Liti? _ Ku gave an inquisitive hoot and tilted her head before crouching down to not be towering over the Spirit as they spoke. 

“Everything went great, and Liti’s going to be fine,” Zal said without the slightest hint of enthusiasm. “Ori’s message got through loud and clear. I just came back to let you know, and so that we could go watch Liti’s cleansing together if you want. It’s gonna be a whole ceremony and everything. Interested?”

_ You don’t sound very happy. _ Ku clicked her beak and prodded Zal’s chest with a wingtip, where the Spirit Shard she’d been very reliant on these past few days hung, glowing softly. 

“I’m fine, really,” Zal answered, stepping away from Ku’s wing. “Finally meeting with my grandfather after so long just dredged up some… confusing emotions, is all.” They looked Ku in the eyes and gave the most obviously fake smile she had ever seen. “So, we should go now if we don’t want to miss the ceremony. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, but I don’t think I’ll make it on time if you don’t fly me there. Sorry.”

Ku side-eyed the Spirit.  _ There’s way more going on here than they’re telling me. But I did come all this way to support them in healing Liti, so I should see this through.  _ She extended a wing to Zal, and the two were in the air within a minute. The Ginso Tree was more than notable enough of a landmark to spot immediately, the water pouring out of its sheer, branchless trunk, as well as it’s oddly-shaped crown were just as spectacular a sight as when she had flown around them as a chick. As she approached, though, the issue of where to land became apparent. 

“The Element of Waters should be at the heart of the tree, just below the crown,” Zal said. “I don’t know if there’ll be room for you to enter the chamber, but you can at least safely perch on top.” Ku moved in to do so, though it was immediately obvious as she neared the crown that some changes had been made to the tree in the intervening time since Ori had visited it. The outside of the trunk was untouched, but the innards near the top had been hollowed out, leaving an opening more than wide enough for Ku to enter, with the lattice of vines housing the bright, glowing Element clearly visible on the bottom.

_ That does make a certain kind of sense, I suppose, _ Ku thought.  _ Ori always did say that the climb out of the tree was absurdly treacherous, joking that if any of their siblings ever had to do maintenance work on the Element there, that they’d better hope that they were heavy enough to sink in turbulent waters should something go wrong. Making it accessible and easy to get away from in that event would be a prudent precaution. And it makes my job far easier.  _ After weaving through a few widely-spaced branches, Ku began a slow, spiraling descent into the tree. 

“Looks like we got here ahead of time,” Zal said as they touched down on the floor, which was completely empty and without a sign of any important event having been prepared. “Just what I was hoping for.” Before Ku could wonder what they meant, Zal leapt off and became a small bird, gliding to the center of the room under the Element before shifting back to their everyday Spirit shape. They gripped the Spirit Shard hanging around their neck tightly and tore it from its cord, holding it aloft. “I only have a moment before Liti arrives, I’m sure, so I hope this works.” The Shard’s glow intensified. 

Ku hooted in alarm and darted forward, intending to drag Zal away before they did something irreversible that they’d regret. Zal was prepared, though, and deftly dodged backwards, to the far side of the Element. Ku was too large to fit under the hanging artifact, and any attempt she made to move around it simply resulted in Zal swiftly relocating to the opposite side. 

“I’m sorry I lied to you, Aunt Ku,” Zal said, the supernatural calm of the Spirit Shard still holding sway over them, “but it’s not as bad as it looks, I swear. Liti will still come here, and she will still be healed. I’m not about to interfere with her choice, no matter how much it pains me. I’m just going to get rid of that pain for good, instead. I’m going to combine the cleansing power of Waters with the empathic suppression of this Shard to rid myself of all the feelings stopping me from accepting all of this. If the new Liti wishes not to live with the pain of the old Liti, then I wish not to live with the guilt of having allowed any of this to happen to her in the first place. The guilt of having killed my first real friend. It’s the only way to move forward.”

“Zal!” Both the Spirit and Ku spun to see that Liti had appeared in the room with them, courtesy of a very exhausted Ort, though it was impossible to tell how much of Zal’s speech she had heard. “We can talk about this, just stop before you hurt yourself!” She had heard enough, apparently. The Moki took a step forward, only for her knees to buckle under her weight, as she barely had the strength to stand upright, much less walk, forcing Ort to catch her before she hit the ground. Her eyes didn’t even seem to be able to focus, as Ku could tell that she was only looking in Zal’s general direction, rather than directly at her.

“I’m sorry, Liti,” Zal said. “Not for what I’m about to do, but for having ruined your life in the first place. I never should have tried to help. But now we can both move on.”

“You’re just being-” Liti’s sentence never finished, as the combined glow of her Spirit Shard and the Element of Waters intensified to blinding levels, and Zal began to scream.

  
  



	20. ...Is a Spirit’s Treasure

_ Just a few minutes before Zal’s arrival at the Ginso Tree… _

Liti was shaken awake some indeterminate amount of time after having passed out, and after a few seconds of sleepy confusion, she finally recognized Ort’s voice and presence. 

“...Just a little longer, Liti, stay with me!”

Rather than try to stand, though, Liti groaned and rolled over, not yet processing the crisis at hand, or even opening her eyes.

“I’ve got… plenty of time…” Liti murmured. “Tree said a week…”

“A week that you’ll spend in a useless coma if you don’t get up now! It’s your willpower that’s needed to start the cleansing!” Liti felt the floor disappear from under her for a moment before it rushed up to greet her again, her forepaws hitting wood with a heavy thunk that sent shockwaves of pain up her legs. “I’m sorry, but if I have to hurt you to keep you from slipping away, then I will!”

“Okay, okay! Not... dying... is a good idea.” Liti rolled onto her feet and tried to stand, though she couldn’t manage without Ort’s help. Only then, after yawning loudly, did she open her eyes. “Wait, why are we in the dark? I can’t see the end of my muzzle in here.”

“...Liti?” Ort began, sounding extremely worried. Liti felt something brush past her whiskers a few times, as if Ort had waved a hand in front of her face. “We’re back at the house you spent the night in. It’s mid-afternoon and several windows are open. I… I think you’ve gone blind…”

“Oh.”

“Don’t panic! Like you said, we have time, as long as you stay awake! If I push myself a bit, I can take us right to-” Ort stopped, realizing that Liti wasn’t panicking at all. “You’re awfully calm about all this. Not that that’s a  _ bad  _ thing, but…”

“I was… kinda expecting this, sooner or later,” Liti said, trying to get her bearings in her newfound darkness. Her hearing was still excellent, and combined with her ability to sense the presence of Spirits, she was able to turn her head to “look” at Ort, though she obviously wouldn’t be able to meet her gaze. “My sense of taste failed yesterday, the morning after we arrived here. Everything tastes rotten now, and I haven’t been able to stomach even the smallest scrap of food since. I suspected my other senses would go eventually if I wasn’t healed, though I’d hoped sight would be last, to be honest.”

“I suppose that means that my plan of feeding you lunch to keep your energy up in the short term is a bust, then?”

“‘Fraid so.” Liti smiled. “Thanks for being so considerate, though. You’re not half-bad for someone I tried to beat senseless within minutes of meeting.”

“And you’ve got to be the most mentally resilient…  _ anything _ I’ve ever met. I’m not sure even Father could cope with…” Ort trailed off as she realized that there was no way of finishing her sentence that didn’t involve either placing tons of emphasis on the severity of Liti's suffering or downplaying it to an insulting degree. 

“Thanks, I’ll take what compliments I can get.” After a few moments of silence, Liti spoke up again. “So, out of curiosity, how long does the process take, anyway?”

“It’s hard to say, but almost certainly longer for you than it would for the smaller cleansings I’ve heard of, and those could take up to an hour. It’s why I wanted to feed you first, so you wouldn’t run the risk of passing out in the middle of it. But you should be fine, that was just a precaution.”

“If you say so. Not like I’ve any other way to do this…” The Moki held out a stone paw in Ort’s general direction. “Ready when you are.” 

“Right.” Ort took a deep breath and grasped Liti’s leg. “This is going to be a doozy of a jump to take both of us, so forgive me if I need a minute to catch my breath when we get there.”

“-rid myself of all the feelings stopping me from accepting all of this.” Judging by the sudden change in temperature, texture of the floor, and Zal’s voice appearing mid-sentence, Liti could tell that she and Ort had appeared somewhere else. If this was the Ginso Tree, though, why was Zal here? What were they talking about? “If the new Liti wishes not to live with the pain of the old Liti, then I wish not to live with the guilt of having allowed any of this to happen to her in the first place. The guilt of having killed my first real friend. It’s the only way to move forward.” Zal’s voice was even-keeled and unnaturally calm, a tone that Liti was intimately familiar with by this point. That combined with what little context she could glean from the back half of Zal’s monologue, meant that Zal was about to do something drastic.

“Zal!” Liti called out in her friend's direction. A loud shuffling sound to her left clued her in that Ku was likely also in the room. “We can talk about this, just stop before you hurt yourself!” Instinctively, Liti tried to run up to Zal, intending to support them physically as well as emotionally, but her body simply wasn’t up to the task, and she couldn’t even make it a single step before her legs failed her. Thankfully, Ort was there to catch her, but even blind, Liti could tell that Ort was so wiped out from bringing them both here that she wasn’t capable of much more. 

“I’m sorry, Liti,” Zal said. “Not for what I’m about to do, but for having ruined your life in the first place. I never should have tried to help. But now we can both move on.”

_ Why are they blaming themselves so much for someone else’s mistakes and choices? They’re going to destroy themselves if I don’t do something! _ The time for being gentle about this was over, it seemed. “You’re just being-” Unfortunately, Liti’s first attempt at blunt confrontation ended when Zal’s pained cries rang out throughout the chamber, the Spirit apparently having initiated whatever horrific process they’d concocted. “Ort! We have to do something!”

“R-right!” Ort vanished from Liti’s side, leaving her to fall to her knees without the physical support. The Spirit’s presence reappeared adjacent to Zal. “You’re coming with me. This needs to st-” Ort was thrown back from Zal as a blinding pulse filled Liti senses, the turbulent energies surrounding them repulsing her on contact. Her body skidded across the floor and came to rest near the edge of the room, unmoving. Liti could at least tell that Ort was still alive, but out cold.

_ There has to be something I can do! But I can hardly move, Ort’s down for the count, and- _ Liti fell over as a distressed hoot from Ku followed by a heavy thud made her jump, something her body wasn’t able to handle and maintain balance.  _ Soundly like Ku’s repulsed by the energies involved here, same as Ort. No doubt I would be as well. Can physical things simply not reach them? _ She thumped her stone paws against her forehead out of frustration. _ My cleansing would have taken a long while, so it’s possible we have some time, but time for what? The Tree’s immobile so even if his Light could penetrate/disable the force here, he can’t be here to do it. Another Spirit might have a gift that’s able to, but there’s hundreds, maybe thousands in this forest! How would we track down someone so specific that we wouldn’t even recognize right away? Who else even is there? _

Then it hit her. There was one thing she could think of that might be able to reach Zal, and she knew exactly where it was. Knowing how to use it, though, was a different story. It wasn’t exactly something anybody knew how to control or make use of in a way that’d help right now. 

_ Besides, there’s no way of telling how long it would take to figure out, or if I’d even survive trying. Unless… Unless… _ Liti could already feel her consciousness fading as whatever strength she’d recovered during her time passed out was expended, but she did everything in her power to stay awake, to keep thinking. Biting her tongue hard enough to draw blood seemed to do the trick for the moment, the sharp pain delivering a temporary jolt of awareness. She knew what she had to do.

“Ku!” Liti called out, hoping the owl was still conscious enough to hear her. A series disoriented hoots and coos from nearby answered, showing that she was, however slightly. “Ku! I have an idea, but I need your help!” After a few seconds, the great bird landed next to her, the wind from the panicked landing sending Liti skidding a few feet away. Even without being able to see or sense her, Liti could practically feel Ku’s intense and desperate state as if it were burning through her fur. “This is going to sound crazy, but I need you to pick me up and take me back to town. I know a way to help Zal, but I can’t do anything about it from here, and it should just be a few minutes away by wing.” 

Liti expected either refusal or at least a few moments’ hesitation from Ku, but she was plucked up by the owl’s beak and was soaring through the air in seconds. Ku wasn’t about to mess around when something substantial could be done, it seemed. Unable to see where they were, Liti was forced to simply wait out the trip, thankful that Ku was unable to sense just how scared and unsure of this she was like Zal would’ve been able to. But after a short time that felt like it lasted forever, Ku gave a muffled hoot through a closed beak, signaling for instruction.

“You’re looking for a little shrine tucked away at the end of an alleyway!” Liti shouted. “The centerpiece is an Ancestral Tree!” It only took a moment for Ku to spot the peculiar location with her astounding eyesight, and within seconds she’d touched down in the space that was nearly too small for her, setting Liti down before the gnarled tree. She could easily tell she was in front of the tree because despite being completely blind, Liti could see the Spirit Light within the tree as if she were looking at it. It was a singular orb with wispy lines shooting off downwards, conforming to the shape of the tree’s trunk and branches. The Echoes she had seen the day before were visible, too, playing the last moments of Nir’s life on repeat, which consisted of him recounting his tale for his father to see later and understand, followed by him eating a handful of some toxic plant and fading from existence. None of this was what Liti needed, though. She needed to make contact with the real deal. “Please,” she whispered, and she placed both her forepaws and forehead upon the tree’s trunk, hoping that she could get through to the one being left who could help her.

There was no response. Liti didn’t even know if there was even a consciousness there to respond in the first place, or if she was even capable of perceiving a response given. She’d never done this while awake.

_ You do not want this. _

The familiar voice echoed softly in Liti’s mind, filling her with a great sense of relief.

_ You are doing the same thing the old Liti did, sacrificing yourself against their will. How do you think Zal will feel if you succeed, knowing that your life was ended, however indirectly, by their actions? _

_ They’ll never feel anything again if I don’t do something! _ Liti shot back.  _ I’d rather they learn to live with the choices of others than never feel joy or compassion or love ever again. That’s not a life worth living! _ Tears began welling up in the Moki’s eyes.  _ I’ve figured out what you are, and if anyone can draw out Nir’s power, it’s you. So please, Liti, help me save our friend! _

_ I am… not Liti. I am everything she did not want to be. Everything she deemed worth giving up. Everything she wished had never happened. But… you are right. I do not want my last conscious thoughts before I am washed away to be of how I failed to save the person closest to her, even if I do not carry the memories of that friendship. _

The Light within Liti paused, as if to listen.

_ I can hear Nir’s voice, and it is warning me of the suffering this power will cause us if we dare to take it. It seems that this tree has been approached by many Spirits looking to reclaim the Soul Link for Sein soon after Nir’s passing, and each and every one were convinced to turn away by these warnings, and the related memories. In addition, our body is at the breaking point. Taking on any more Spirit Light will cause us to... expire, as Ort put it, in short order, with precious little time to find a solution. _

_ That’s what I’m counting on, actually. _ Liti chuckled glibly.  _ We flail around blindly for a solution for a short time, die, then try again. Who knows, maybe we’ll even figure out how to save ourselves while we’re at it. Do it. _ The glow of the Ancestral Tree began to intensify, and Ku tapped Liti’s shoulder with her beak, as if to make sure that she was still awake. “I’m fine, Ku, thanks. I’ll have what I need in just a few seconds, and as soon as I give the signal, I want you to drag me back to Zal as fast as you physically can. Every second counts, alright?”

The owl cooed softly in nervous acknowledgement. 

“Alright. Here goes.”

Liti was enveloped by the stream of Spirit Light flowing into her, every nerve in her body coming alive with the sensation of cold fire.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Dying sucked, as it turned out, but Liti had honestly expected it to be much worse. Thanks to the way in which her body’s functions rapidly failed, by the time Ku had made it back to the Ginso Tree, the Moki’s body was completely numb, all vestiges of pain having faded away. The only reason she knew that they had arrived at first was that her sense of balance was intact enough to detect the sudden jolt of Ku touching down. Even her ability to sense Zal had faded to almost nothing, no doubt additionally hampered by their deepening emotionless state. 

And that was how it ended, laying in a pathetic heap on the ground as her heart ceased beating, two separate minds trying desperately to come up with something, anything, they could do to stop any of this. But soon, those stopped working, too, and-

Feeling returned to Liti’s body suddenly, as if it never left, the paradoxical cold but burning sensation of Nir’s Light only now just fading. 

“We’re back…” Liti whispered, as Ku’s talons immediately scooped her up to take her to Zal.  _ So, that’s how that works. Time to keep trying. _

And try they did. They tried everything they could think of, from calling out to Zal, to having Ku press them against the field of energy that kept them from reaching the Spirit in hopes of forcing them through. One time they even had Ku go to the Spirit Tree instead for help, but whatever madness Zal had wrought in messing with the Element of Waters had them occupied completely as they struggled to maintain the Forest’s balance, and Liti returned to the Soul Link without the smallest bit of advice. The Spirits in town were of little help as well. It took far too much time for Liti to convince any of them that she was someone worth listening to and not just some dying animal in need of comfort. 

For what felt like ages, no progress was made, and the possible range of their actions was found to be incredibly limited. It wasn’t until the pair of minds spent an entire cycle doing nothing but focusing their minds and wills upon Zal in hopes that they could rekindle their connection and snap them out of it that they realized something. The Element of Waters that Zal had tapped into was something they could sense as well. It seemed to exist on a different wavelength that blended into the background easily, but it was there nonetheless. And woven in with that particular Light were two more sources, faintly detectable miles away in different directions. 

_ There’s more of them? Of course there are. There’s more to a forest than just water. _ Liti cracked a weary, but genuine, smile.  _ If this Element would have cleansed me, perhaps another could do so as well? Or at least do something related? Sounds like as good a lead as any. Wanna tell Ku to head towards one of those next time around? _

_ It... would not hurt. _

Ku was initially wary of flying in the opposite direction of Zal in their moment of need, but after wasting a cycle in conversation, Liti found the correct words to convince her right off the bat. The closer of the two Elements was locked away in a great, hollow mountain, with little apparent means of reaching it. After getting close enough, though, the Light residing within Liti was able to deduce that it would not help them, by some sort of innate understanding of the Element’s function they could not fully explain. This Element absorbed the energy of a great fire within the mountain, and dispersed it evenly across Nibel. Trying to force an interaction with it would likely just drain them outright rather than do anything useful.

The third Element was the farthest, residing in old ruins on the western edge of the forest. It was far more promising, though only moderately more accessible. As far as either of them could tell, this Element was deceptively simple in function. It pushed the air in the region to create a constant westerly wind, keeping the weather of Nibel steady and consistent. 

_ This one is also useless to us… _

_ I’m not so sure, I think we can work with this. _ Sensing the Light’s despair, Liti did her best to exude optimism.  _ These Elements the Tree created, I get the feeling that their functions aren’t exactly… literal? Is... that the right word? _ Liti tried to formulate her thoughts to express her idea properly, though this late in the current cycle, the fog was already starting to set in.

_ How so? _

_ The water one purifies water, but it can also purify other things. Things that can’t be touched or seen, like, well, you. If this wind one pushes air, then it stands to reason that it can similarly push other… untouchables.  _

_ You want to... push the Decay? _

_ Maybe? Dunno what it’d even do, but honestly... would it hurt to try? _ The Light did not answer, which Liti took as an uneasy agreement. “K-Ku?” Liti wheezed, hoping that her voice was loud enough for the owl to hear over the wind. “Try and… get us inside.” She thought she heard a hoot in response, and the sensation of movement indicated that Ku had indeed gone into a quick descent, seemingly weaving between obstacles. When she came to a stop, Liti managed to realize that she’d brought her right to the Element. It was right above her. She was fading fast, though, maybe only having time to try one thing and hope the Light followed her lead in doing so. She couldn’t stand or even lift a foreleg to touch the surface, but she did find that she could still just barely move the one appendage farthest from her decayed paws. With monumental effort and a whole lot of desperation, Liti managed to get one last swish out of her long tail. The fluffy tip met slight resistance as it seemed to come into contact with something and-

  
  


* * *

  
  


They could see again. It didn’t look like how they remembered seeing to be, everything was oddly green-tinted, but this wasn’t exactly a time to ask any questions. Liti had made contact with the Element, and they’d done… something. Something that seemed to come naturally but they weren’t really able to rationalize or describe. But whatever it was, it had cleared their senses. They could see and feel again, to a degree, though just how off it seemed still made them extremely anxious. 

“Liti, we did it! We pushed out the Decay! Now we can-” the Light stopped short when they heard their words reverberate throughout the chamber in a foreign, echoing voice. They had spoken out loud. Then it clicked. They weren’t seeing through Liti’s eyes anymore. These senses were their own. The Element hadn't pushed away the Decay. It had shunted _them_ out of Liti’s body instead. Acting on instinct, the now-free Light swiveled their vision around in search of the body they’d just left.  _ If I am out here, then Liti does not have- _

If they’d still had the ability to draw breath, then that breath would have caught in their throat. There, on the ground before them, was Liti’s body, its cold, stone form frozen in in the awkward heap she had landed in, but with a wide smile stretching across her petrified muzzle.

“No…” They tried to reach out and touch the statue, half-hoping that they could reanimate it, only to discover that they didn’t have any limbs to reach with. “Why… did you not let us reset? Did you really think this was the answer? What am I supposed...” Something brushed against their ethereal form, and the Light spun to see Ku standing over them, the tears in her eyes doing nothing to hide the burning determination now focused on the small ball of emerald Light before her, clearly saying that they still had a job to do. 

“R-right! We need to get back to Zal.” As Ku’s talons enclosed tightly around them, the newborn Wisp took one last look at Liti before focusing forward. “I will not let this go to waste, Liti. You have my word.”


	21. Companions, Lost and Found

The moment the cleansing began, all thought left Zal’s mind. They were still aware, still observing every event in excruciating detail, but there was no consideration paid to any sensation or observation. They couldn’t even process words being said by those around them, only that they were spoken.

_ Ort attempts to make contact with my body, and is violently repelled.  _

_ Ku attempts the same, with the same results. _

_ Liti speaks, and Ku responds. _

_ Ku picks Liti up and flies off.  _

_ Time passes. _

_ Time passes. _

_ Ort groans and moves slightly, but does not wake up. _

_ Time passes. _

_ Ku returns, holding something foreign in her talons.  _

_ An ephemeral green light approaches, and it speaks. _

_ Its glow intensifies, and a bright bolt of energy strikes my body. _

_ I- _

As Zal tumbled through the air from the force of the impact, the now-familiar rush of suppressed emotions occurred, but with such intensity that the world around them ceased to exist for a moment. There was only pain, and fear, and sorrow, and curiosity, and regret, and love, and joy, and contentment, and even relief. All oscillating back and forth and coming and going in such rapid succession that it was impossible to tell what emotions were associated with what events. But when their logical faculties returned, they knew one thing: they had failed. Zal’s first genuine emotion was rage. Not at whatever had stopped them from completing their plan, but at themselves for having fallen so deep into that pit of emotionlessness that their very conscience had been subsumed in the name of their desires. And yet, instinctively, the Spirit grasped at their chest with an unstable hand, searching for the Spirit Shard that was no longer there to calm their nerves. 

“Please, Zal, no more of this,” said a new voice. Zal looked up to see the strange ball of light hovering before her. It cast the ground around itself in emerald hues, and seemed to pulse ever so slightly as it spoke. “It is over. No one else has to… has to get hurt.” The Wisp, as Zal realized what it was, spoke in a distraught, near-sobbing tone, and radiated sorrow. Even without a posture or mannerisms to read, their pain was palpable. 

“Who…” Zal wheezed, their entire form threatening to collapse. “Who are you?”

“I am… nobody. Garbage given purpose, I guess. A purpose that has been served, so this will be goodbye.” The Wisp began to float away into the air, heading out of the tree.

“Wait!” Zall called after them, and they halted. “I’d recognize that manner of speaking anywhere! You... actually went through with the Tree’s plan? To ‘save’ me? Liti, please don’t think you have to leave!” While Zal’s misty eyes were locked on the Wisp, there was no way of telling whether the featureless orb was returning their gaze.

“You have it all mixed up, I am afraid,” the Wisp answered. “And I am not emotionally equipped to set you straight. Ku can show you what happened. Just... Just know that I am sorry. This was her choice, and I would have stopped her if I could.” And with that, they flew upwards and out of sight, leaving Zal very confused but very sure of one thing. Something awful had just happened, and it was all their fault. 

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


The following hours passed in a vague haze. It turned out that Zal didn’t need Liti’s Spirit Shard to feel numb, which was good, because the Shard had crumbled to dust after Zal had been extracted from their misguided cleansing. No, just seeing what was left of Liti’s body and putting together what that Wisp had meant was more than enough for that. This was a different numbness than what the Shard provided, though. The Shard put a stopper on emotions before they could be felt, while now Zal recognized what they felt and why they felt it, but simply couldn’t muster the energy to express those emotions. The anger and guilt just flowed past them like a creek around a rock, but they knew sooner or later that that rock would be dislodged. 

The Tree and Sein were surprisingly sympathetic, all things considered. They felt partly at fault for not intervening in Zal’s downward spiral the moment they noticed it, and for not anticipating the desperate measures it would lead Zal to use. 

“ _ In the end, there was no lasting harm done,” the Tree said.  _ “ _ We will forgive you your irrationality if you forgive us our arrogance. There are a multitude of lessons to be learned from these events. _ ”

“No lasting harm?” Zal asked, unable to muster the incredulity they wished to express. “What about Liti? Because of me, she…”

“ _She transcended, Zal,_ ” Sein said, attempting to comfort the Spirit. “ _It was not a possibility we had considered, as the circumstances are unprecedented. Until now, the creation of a Wisp has always been either a very careful and deliberate act, or done involuntarily because of some great trauma._ ” Memories of what had happened to Sier when Willow died flashed through Zal’s mind, and they shuddered. “ _For a Wisp to exist, a concentration of pure Spirit Light must contain a mind and will, not tethered to any physical form, and our minds cannot be split without being diminished. If I were to put part of myself into something else, that part of me would be lost until we could be reunited._ _Thus, deliberate reproduction is only done in the most calculated of circumstances, or the most desperate. A small enough fragment of a mind must be taken as to not cripple the parent, but just significant enough that it can be nurtured and allowed to mature over the ages._ ”

“So Liti… cheated the system?” Zal asked, a feeling of pride for her lost friend filling her with warmth. “She was provided mindless Light by a Tree and Wisp, and gave it part of herself inadvertently. And that part of herself wasn’t… diminished?”

“ _Indeed. It seems the minds of the Lightless are more… adaptive and resilient than we gave them credit for,_ ” the Tree remarked, paying a rare compliment to someone other than his children. “ _Even when missing half of their very being, both portions of her mind seemed to retain the same sense of self as they did while whole._ ”

“Even so, one of those halves sacrificed herself to save me, and the other…” Zal slumped to the ground in front of the Well, very much wanting to turn into a pile of goop. “The other doesn’t seem to care much for the idea of being alive at all. Liti didn’t transcend, since there isn’t a Liti left anymore…”

“ _ I would not be so sure, _ ” the Tree said, and Zal’s ears perked up. “ _ The Elements of Light are not selective in their function. Waters cleanse impurities indiscriminately. Warmth absorbs all energies, regardless of their source. And the Element of Winds, which created this new Wisp, pushes apart all things that can be separated, with no possibility of half-measures. Your friend’s… creative use of it ripped Ori’s Light from her body, but Ori’s Light was entangled with their very soul. Surely you’ve observed that even the Lightless can benefit from our Light in moderation? Light and Life are but two sides of the same coin, and turning one into the other is far from impossible. _ ”

“ _ What he is saying, _ ” Sein continued, attempting to put the Tree’s words in a more clear manner, “ _ Is that there is a good chance the lost half of Liti’s being is still embedded in or imprinted upon the Light of the newborn Wisp, as the Element of Winds is not precise enough to differentiate between the two when it performed its function and ‘moved’ them. It is just lying dormant, as the active half knows not what to do with it, or even that it yet exists, as the case may be. _ ”

“Then I have to go find her!” Zal leapt to their feet, only for one foot to lose cohesion and collapse, sending them tumbling to the ground. 

“ _ You are in no condition to find anyone, grandchild _ ,” the Tree said forcefully. “ _ Your rash actions were still harmful to your body, and the damage will take time to heal safely. You will return to your lodging and rest. I will send those more fit to search in the meantime. Nibel is far too large to scour single handedly. _ ”

“But-”

“ _ This is not a request. This is an order. I will not allow you to come to harm by your misguided need to repay the sacrifices of others yet again. Ori did not send their child here to die. _ ” 

The Tree’s words stung, because they were true. The cumulative guilt of Liti’s repeated misfortune and their role in allowing them to happen had become all-consuming. And it wasn’t about to get any better, either. Not until the Wisp-Liti was safe and sound and the other Liti could be recovered. But they’d never do any good for her in this state, and it was very true that the forest was too large to search by herself.

“You’re right, sorry, I’ll make sure to recover before joining the search. Just… ask the search parties to keep me informed, okay?”

“ _ Of course. Rest well, Zal. _ ” 

With that, Zal took the Well back to the town, where a few kindly Spirits were more than willing to help them get to their temporary home. Even after crawling into a soft bed and allowing themselves to melt into a very relaxed puddle, though, sleep refused to come. All they could think about was what they were going to say to Liti, whichever version they ended up getting to speak to. 

_ Maybe we’ll get to recombine them! _ Zal thought optimistically.  _ It’s my fault they were separated in the first place, after all, and I never did get to apologize for that specifically. I just let that guilt spill over into everything else, instead… _ And indeed, that guilt kept Zal awake for hours upon hours, until just past the following dawn, when they finally managed to drift off into something resembling sleep.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


The Wisp hadn’t slept that night, either, though after spending the night hunkered down in a clear, picturesque swamp a short distance from the Ginso Tree, they were more or less convinced that it was both unnecessary and physically impossible for them to do so. Whatever energy they had spent dislodging Zal and traveling here had returned to them naturally within a few hours, and they had been fully awake to watch the fireflies congregate around them in the night, attracted by their ever-present glow. It was the most beautiful sight they had ever seen, though it wasn’t exactly a high bar to clear. Liti had kept her most pleasant and cherished memories for herself when she peeled away the bits that had coalesced into the Wisp’s consciousness, beautiful vistas included.

“It is fine, you did not know I would exist,” the Wisp said to the empty air as the sun peeked over the horizon, pretending that they could reassure the dead of their innocence. “It took me several days to figure that out that I did myself, and several more to reach you in a dream, and by then… it was clear that at least one of us would not be making it out alive. I really tried for it to be me. I really did...”

But they  _ were _ alive. Quite likely forever, barring intervention from something extremely powerful that wished to snuff them out, if what they knew of Seir and Sein was any indication. And they knew they had to make something of that, not only for Liti’s sake, but for the simple fact that they’d go insane otherwise. The original Liti had been driven to make herself useful and find purpose to the point of self-destruction, and while it seemed that the desire to put her friends and loved ones above herself at every opportunity had remained with her when she dismantled her memories, that need for purpose was now the core of the Wisp. No amount of self-awareness of that fact seemed to mitigate it, either. 

_ What is it that Wisps even do, anyway? _ they wondered.  _ They sustain a forest, as part of a Spirit Tree, right? A Tree born from the union of Wisp and Spirit. So even if I were to leave and find some far-off land to cultivate and call my own… _ The realization slammed down on them like an avalanche. _ I would need a partner. _ The prospect was instantly unappealing. The way Zal had described Ori’s experience partnering with Seir, it was an incredible sacrifice. One that they shouldn’t have been forced to make, had fate not been so cruel. It was not something to be imposed upon a Spirit, but a decision that should be born of mutual trust and a desire to grow into a new stage of life. So if they pursued that as a life goal, they’d be pressuring people who they’d consider friends to throw their freedom away in devotion to this purpose.  __

_ But.. I do not  _ **_have_ ** _ to do that, do I? I could find some other purpose than the one assigned by my nature. Is that not the principle Liti strove to instill in herself? And Ori in others? But… what would that even be? How am I even supposed to- _

It was at that moment that they suddenly became aware of the fact that they were being watched. Watched by many things, in fact. They’d been so focused inwards the whole night that they never noticed the very odd assortment of creatures that had begun to congregate around them shortly after sunrise. A dove, two squirrels, a gecko, a weasel, and some sort of large, armored beetle, all creatures that obviously would have had nothing to do with each other under normal circumstances, sat in a loose circle around the Wisp, staring at them almost expectantly. Slowly, they backed away, only for the bizarre group to follow, keeping the same distance as before. One squirrel made a quiet chittering noise and hopped closer before reaching into its mouth with its forepaws and producing a ripe, red berry it had stashed there and presenting it to the Wisp. No words were spoken, but somehow they were able to intuit the message.

“You… are trying to cheer me up?” the Wisp asked aloud, getting confused head-tilts from the assembled creatures at first, as would be expected for speaking to strange animals. A few seconds later, though, their words seemed to register with the onlookers, and was met with various displays of affirmation, from excited tweeting to rapid foot tapping to spinning in circles enthusiastically. Again, the meaning of these displays was obvious, despite not being remotely natural or normal “Thank… you?” The squirrel placed the berry below the Wisp and hopped back to join the others, contented. None of this made sense. These weren’t animals that socialized with each other, and in fact the weasel was a natural predator of several of them. They certainly weren’t intelligent enough creatures to communicate with, either, and yet they seemed to understand each other on some subtle level.  _ Can all Wisps do this? Attract and bond with wildlife?  _ This chance occurrence had given them exactly what they needed, though. An opportunity to explore their new form and capabilities, as well as company, of a sort. It wasn’t much to go off of as far as long-term direction went, but it was a start. 

“Okay, since you were all so kind to me, I am going to have to repay the favor somehow. Any ideas?”


	22. Guerrilla Pacifism

Reports on Liti’s whereabouts hadn’t started coming in until late afternoon on the first day, when a Spirit able to sense the world around him in great detail managed to pick up a faint trail starting in Thornfelt Swamp. It seemed that the ambient presence of a Wisp accumulated in the air when it lingered in one place for long enough. Much to the search parties’ and Zal’s chagrin, though tracking her movements more precisely was constantly thwarted by a combination of freak happenstance, to the point where by the end of the following day it could only be assumed that it was not happenstance at all. 

Somehow, the Wisp-Liti had enlisted the help of the common woodland creatures to assist in her evasion of the search parties. It started with simple things, like squirrels making a ruckus like something strange was starling them, only to lead the search party ten minutes in the wrong direction and force them to spend hours to reacquire Liti’s trail. But each time the party seemed to be nearing their goal, the tactics used by the wildlife increased in intensity and complexity, eventually reaching a level clearly beyond what a simple animal could do without direction. 

Additionally, there were lines the animals clearly would not cross. Multiple times the searching Spirits ended up in positions where they could have come to harm from the extreme diversions, and each time the creatures either stopped short of hurting them, or stepped in to save them from their own mistakes. In one instance, a normally quite aggressive rammer beetle shoved a Spirit out of the way of a falling tree that it itself had knocked down when the Spirit had tripped in its attempt to escape it. And when the Spirit was then prone and at the beetle’s mercy, instead of eliminating the threat to its territory like its kind were known to do, it instead thundered off deeper into the woods in what turned out to be another wrong direction.

Sein could offer no insight to this apparent ability to sway and direct simple minds. Wisps were not like Spirits, as they only really differed from each other in color, temperament, and experience. Any unique abilities they possessed were a result of practice and mentality, and since the former was almost certainly not a factor here, their best guess was that Liti’s unique perspective as a formerly Lightless being herself gave her insight into things that neither Sein nor Seir had ever managed to grasp in all of their multitude of centuries in existence. Still, these were just simple animals, and there were limits to what they could physically achieve, so the gap in the trail continued to narrow, day by day. 

Day by day was an extremely frustrating pace for Zal, however. Just like the last Spirit Shard related incident, their injuries weren’t something able to be repaired by bathing in a Spirit Well for a few minutes. In fact, overexposure to Spirit Light was likely to exacerbate the issue, as the best anyone could figure, the problem was caused by their body’s ability to regulate its natural consumption and output of energy being disrupted. After four days of waiting, however Zal had had enough. It took some very persistent complaining, but they were able to convince their caretakers that they were stable enough to go out on the search, so long as they kept the shapeshifting to a minimum. 

“You ready, Aunt Ku?” Zal asked as the two of them prepared to take off towards Liti’s suspected location. The forest started to thin out in that area, at the foot of Mount Horu, so Ku would be an invaluable asset for spotting a Wisp from the air. “Remember, we have to approach her calmly when we find her. I don’t know why she’s running, but if she thinks she’s under attack then things will only be harder on us, and on her.” Ku nodded, and the two were soon in the air. That last issue continued to make Zal nervous, however, even as the elation of no longer being confined to bed rest pushed against it.  _ I know her state of mind isn’t the most healthy, but why is she going to such lengths to avoid any and all contact with us? What is she afraid of? Does she know something I don’t? _

  
  
  
  


With Ku’s eyes in the air, and Zal more readily able to interpret her hoots and screeches than the Spirits of Nibel, that day’s search went far more smoothly. Ort would periodically pop back and forth between Zal and the party on the ground to relay messages about what everyone could see and sense. And what Ku saw rather quickly was the pattern of the now-routine distractions, and the paths the animals took after completing them. After having traveled away long enough, they’d always double back a certain distance in what could now almost certainly be called the “correct” direction before looping back for another pass at the search party. And with that established, the effectiveness of the distractions dropped drastically, with the Spirits doing their best to ignore any and all interference, provided they weren’t in any danger. And they never were, as the animals still refrained from attacking or otherwise harming them.

It seemed that the animals soon got the hint as well, as the distractions eventually stopped, leaving the search to continue unimpeded. By mid-afternoon, Liti’s presence was clearly detected, in a narrow cave tucked away at the base of a cliff. Zal knew they would have to be the one to go in. They knew Liti better than anyone, after all. However, even though such a thing would be wildly out of character for her, this reeked of a trap. There was no other explanation for why she’d go from trying to evade pursuit, to purposefully backing herself into a corner.

_ Even so, this has to be done, _ Zal thought, as they stood at the mouth of the cave before turning to the rest of the search party behind them. “Keep your eyes and ears open, and send Ort in to get me out of there should anything seem dangerous.” 

“Just be careful, alright?” the search leader said, his concern shining through loud and clear. “Messing with a disgruntled Wisp in a confined space sounds like an awful idea, even a young, weak one.”

“Liti’s my best friend, the worst she’ll do is inconvenience me and escape.” Zal smiled and began walking back into the cave. “Liti! It’s Zal!” they shouted into the darkness, announcing their presence to be as diplomatic as possible. “I’m coming in!” 

The only response was a faint green flicker from deep in the darkness, confirming that Liti was there, but not that she had any interest in talking. All they could do was continue on. Soon, they rounded a corner and were faced with deep darkness. Thankfully, shifting their eyes to forms more suited for seeing in the dark was a small enough change that it wouldn’t put too much strain on them. And with that taken care of, it just took a few minutes of traveling down the winding cavern and following the flickers of Liti’s glow conspicuously reflecting off of the walls to find her, hovering at the end.

“I knew it would be you,” Liti said without even a hint of warmth. “You do not even have your strength back yet and you are still rushing off to find me.”

“You’re my friend!” Zal shot back. “I couldn’t let you just disappear!”

“You were  _ Liti’s _ friend.”

“But you’re-”

“ _ Not! Liti! _ ” The Wisp’s voice reverberated throughout the cavern, her form radiating anger and frustration. “Think about it  _ literally at all,  _ Zal! You  _ know _ that Liti kept all of her most precious memories, and that I have all of the ones she discarded. How much of what defined the old Liti is left? How many memories of  _ you _ do you think I even have?”

“I-”

“I will tell you!” the Wisp snapped, not even letting the Spirit get a word in edgewise. “From before the separation, there are two. Exactly two. One is of you pinned under a decayed monster, just before Liti plunged her paws into its body to save you and I… she...” She shuddered, her form quivering in an unnatural manner. “The other is the incident of my creation. The crisis that drove Liti to a breaking point. I remember  _ exactly _ what you did, Zal.”

“I- You- We-” Zal stammered, overcome with a bizarre combination of despair, embarrassment, and regret. “Of course you do. But… at least then you understand why I need to help you! Why I need to help her!” 

‘I do  _ not- _ ” the Wisp cut herself off, making a palpable attempt to reign in her emotions. “I do not need your help. And Liti is not alive for you to help, either. I just… I just wanted to figure this out on my own. Take this new life in a new direction that belongs to me and no one else. That’s why I’ve been avoiding you all. The Tree doubtless see me as important, either as a threat, or as something to be nurtured for a very specific role. If I were to go back with you, I would be trapping myself.”

“He wouldn’t…” Zal trailed off, realizing that at no point had the Tree, Sein, or any of the other Spirits indicated what was to be done with the new Wisp once it was found and rescued. And if there was any being in this world who would impose his will on others in the name of natural hierarchies… “I won’t let that happen. You have my word.” They decided not to press the issue of reviving the original Liti just yet. This was a tenuous situation, and Zal wasn’t so oblivious that they didn’t realize that broaching that subject right now would run counter to the Wisp’s pleas for autonomy. 

“I do not think you have the power to do anything, but I did what I came here to do, and I am not about to fight you or the others outside,” she said, resigned. “I will go back with you.”

“What, uh,  _ did _ you come here to do, anyway?”

“I was doing a favor for a friend.”

“...Friend?”  _ She has other friends? _ Zal just barely kept from saying the last part out loud.

“I mean, my friends have been delaying you and the others for days now. Did you think I have been controlling them against their will?”

“You say it like it’s so… simple,” Zal said, astonished by how casual Liti was being about this strange talent. “They’re just, well, animals, right? They take ages to train properly.”

“Hmm. This is going to sound weird, but I am… connected to things around me,” she explained. “If it lives, then it just, uh, flows through me? No, not the right way of putting it... I am not sure how to explain it. In any case, it seems the connection goes both ways, and wildlife in my proximity…” She paused, struggling to find the words. It was at that point that a loud squeaking noise sounded from behind a nearby rock, and a pair of very energetic squirrels leapt into view and began chattering at Zal, much to their confusion. “Gets smarter? We honestly have no idea how it works. But as you can see-” A sharp chirp from one of the squirrels cut her off, as the creature seemed to gesture with its forepaws at Zal. “Oh! Of course! Zal, it seems he wants to talk to you directly. I  _ think _ I can make that happen…”

“Liti, it’s a squirrel,” Zal said incredulously. “Even a smarter than average one one doesn’t have the capacity for-”

“ _ You! _ ” A new voice echoed in Zal’s head, similar to how one of the Spirit Trees “speaking” would sound, but with an intensity that made them clutch their head in pain. “ _ Leave Friend alone! Friend is helping us explore! See the world! Find better home! _ ”

“ _ Cave is big and dark and interesting! _ ” a second voice said, no quieter than the first, but distinctly less angry. “ _ Too big for a nest, though. _ ”

“Oh, that was far too loud, sorry,” the Wisp apologized, though she was obviously somewhat amused. “This is my first time sharing thoughts like that.”

“ _ White Ones never help! Only care about blue rocks and yellow lights! Destroy nests and food to find them! _ ” With the volume of the squirrel’s voice in their head now at a reasonable level, Zal came to the sudden and startling realization that the squirrel was legitimately hurt and resentful, two emotions they didn’t know the tiny beast was capable of. Whatever methods the Nibelian Spirits used to gather energy crystals and loose Spirit Light obviously did not consider the harm done to the local wildlife. “ _ Mate and I travel with Friend and find peaceful home, away from White Ones. Friend protects us, others help too! _ ” The other squirrel nodded enthusiastically. 

“It turns out that almost anything is capable of empathy, if given the chance,” Liti said. “These two, among others, showed me genuine kindness when I was lost and alone. Whatever my presence does to them may have made their gestures possible, but I did not create the compassion inherent to these creatures. So, for now, that’s my purpose, being a friend and guardian to these little ones until I can find a new home for them.” For the first time, Zal felt genuine happiness from the Wisp, which quickly soured as she spoke the next sentence. “Assuming my freedom is not short-lived.”

“I’m sure it won’t be,” Zal said, knowing that they were lying. They were as far from sure as they could possibly be. “Let’s head back, Liti. We can work through this, like we’ve worked through everything else.”

“Alright. But let me make one request.”

“Yeah?”

“Stop calling me Liti. Liti was a Moki who died a hero. I am just a fragment she did not think was worth holding on to, and what she wished she never was.” The Wisp stated this as a matter of fact, without a hint of resentment or anger, much to Zal’s surprise.

“Then… how about ‘Ti?’” the Spirit asked, coming up with the less-than-creative moniker on the spot. “You know, like the back half of Liti?”

“I... guess.” The Wisp pulsed in a way Zal could only assume was a sigh. “I  _ will _ figure out my own name later, though. I am my own person, after all. I will not let that Moki rule this new life, understand?”

“I… Yes. Of course.” Zal smiled as their conscience started tearing itself apart.  _ If I were to awaken the lost Liti within her now… what happens to “Ti?”  _

The answer was obvious, no matter how much Zal wished it wasn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Huge apologies for this taking so long to come out. I had planned for this to be published well ahead of this story hitting the 2,000 hit milestone, but the holidays were far rougher this year than they have been basically ever before. 
> 
> But of course, that still means we crossed that point in the meantime! People have come to read this novel-length piece of video game fanfiction 2,000 times, and at least 55 of you liked it enough to let me know you did! I'm incredibly flattered that people like all of my melodrama-tinged writing enough to keep reading. It's thanks to the response of everyone here that I've gained any confidence as a writer at all.
> 
> So from the bottom of my heart, thanks for reading, and I will do my best to keep up this work for all of you. Writing this has been a fantastic experience, and I hope reading what's to come will be one for all of you as well.


	23. Creature Comforts

“They are coming. This is not something I am going to budge on,” Ti said, staring down a very adamant search leader.

“Look, I’m not tellin’ ya you _can’t_ bring your new pets back with ya,” he said, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. “But I don’t think ya _should._ They seem to hate us, for one.” He and one of the squirrels exchanged dirty looks, as obviously the feeling was mutual. 

“They are coming because they want to. They are my friends, not my pets, and their desire to support me and see new places seems to outweigh their distaste for you and your kin. This discussion is over.”

The Spirit sighed. “Whatever you say, ma’am. At least you’re not bringin’ the whole menagerie you had screwin’ with us these past few days.” He then turned to the rest of the assembled Spirits. “Alright, team! Mission accomplished! Zal and the Wisp get to take the owl, but the rest of us are on foot gettin’ home. Feel free to take as much time to relax on the way as you need, we’ve got nowhere to be. Dismissed!”

“ _Is everything okay?_ ” one of the squirrels asked, sensing Ti’s unease. 

“ _Things are uncertain right now, is all._ ” the Wisp replied, thankful that they could have this exchange silently. The more distress they showed, the more obsessive Zal would inevitably become, and that was the last thing they wanted right now. “ _Thank you, though. You make good company, both of you. I will keep my promise… somehow._ ”

“ _You are Friend,_ ” said the more soft-spoken of the squirrels. “ _Friend is enough, and you help how you can._ ”

“ _I…_ ” Ti struggled to find the words to respond. The squirrels’ vocabulary was simple, if improving, but it seemed to do little to hamper the profoundness of the statement. _Being a friend… is enough?_ It seemed like a no-brainer. Friendship wasn’t transactional, or at least it wasn’t when done right. But even in Liti’s memories, friends had always been creatures to which debts were owed and paid. Every kindness had to be returned with interest, and every mistake had to be compensated. Had the Moki really been that self-righteous? How much of Liti’s brute force approach to relationships had they internalized? In any case, it was most certainly a mindset worth discarding, or at least being mindful of. “ _I will remember that, thank you._ ”

The flight back to Grove Town wasn’t terribly long, Nibel wasn’t really that large when you could fly in a straight line, but it felt like it took ages. For the first half, Zal attempted to make small talk, only to find that they were unable to find much common ground with Ti to discuss anything, and the Wisp simply defected or outright ignored any probing questions of a more personal nature. The back half of the trip was thusly spent in silence, at least from Zal’s perspective. In reality, much of Ti’s attention was devoted to doing their best to sooth the vertigo of one of their squirrel companions, and attempting to sate the boundless curiosity of the other. 

“ _Can we walk on clouds?_ ”

“ _Why is the sky cold if the sun is close?_ ”

“ _Does rain rain up?_ ”

“ _Does the sky end?_ ”

Ti, answered the obvious questions, but many of them had never ever occurred to them before. They had no idea how large the sky was, or why it was cold, or what lay below the deepest caverns. The world was huge and intimidating and mysterious, and the oldest beings in it were more or less anchored in one place. One more reason not to let that happen to them at all costs…

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


“ _This sensation may be foreign and uncomfortable, but I need you to stand still for us._ ” Sein tried their best to be soothing, but nothing could lessen the apprehension Ti was consumed by as one of the Spirit Tree’s roots snaked out of the ground and encircled them. 

“It would be really convenient if you could just tell me what is to be done with me so I can consider my choices,” Ti said, though they received no response. What they did get, though, was a sense of how much chatter was going between Sein and the Tree. It must have been because of the similarities in how they now operated, but it was almost like every thought shared between the two was a pulse in the air Ti could feel happening, but not understand. And then, just as the invasive probing feeling of the Tree’s examination began to intensify, Ti could tell that Zal had been roped into that conversation. What was clear was that there was something important going on here that no one wanted them to be informed of. Anger welled within them, but before they could shout at the three of them, another voice interjected.

“ _Please do not be mad,_ ” the softhearted squirrel pleaded. “ _Run, live, not fight._ ”

“ _No, be mad,_ ” the fiercer of the squirrels objected. “ _But do not fight and lose. Save for later._ ” 

“ _What if Friend driven, not mad?_ ”

“ _What is ‘driven?’_ ”

“ _Means ‘want to do things,’ Friend said it once yesterday._ ”

“ _Can I be driven_ **_and_ ** _mad? Still mad at White Ones, but driven to find new nest?_ ”

“ _I… do not know. Friend? Can Mate be both?_ ”

“ _You know your feelings better than I do,_ ” Ti answered. “I _f you feel both, then you do. People can feel multiple things at once._ ” If they’d still had a face, they’d be smiling right now. Of all the creatures Ti had met and befriended the last few days, these two squirrels had been the most interesting, and the most comforting. They did not know why they seemed to take to their newfound potential in the Wisp’s presence more quickly than the others, but if they were to hazard a guess, it was because they had each other to share thoughts with and develop concepts more readily, even when Ti wasn’t directly engaging them. The other animals, despite being more willing to tolerate the presence of others, never quite got to the point of socializing directly with anyone other than Ti. _They are right, too. I can be angry, but I need to channel that anger into a productive drive. Getting into a shouting match with the most powerful beings in the forest over secrets I do not have context for yet is… foolish._

“ _There, you may move,_ ” said the Tree, snapping Ti out of their introspection. The small root that had coiled around them receded as well. “ _You are quite fascinating, young one. At once how we expected and incomprehensible._ ”

" _What he means to say is that you are a healthy fledgling Wisp in every way we can measure,_ ” Sein added, “ _but the consciousness imprinted upon you is unique, and not one we can assess with any confidence. Until now, the minds of all Wisps have shared a common lineage. Fragmented and adapted and evolved in divergent ways over the eons, but originating from that same common perspective._ ”

“ _You have walked the earth, mortal and fragile. You know what it means to eat and sleep and breathe and die._ ” The casualness with which the Tree listed that last item made Ti squirm. " _We are connected to all life in Nibel on a deep level, but we are forever distanced by Sein’s perspective. We can touch the lightless, but never know them, just as they can never know us. You do not share in that… shortcoming._ ”

“I have gathered that, yeah,” Ti said. “But now that your questions are satisfied, how about mine?”

“ _Yes, that would be another pressing matter. I will be blunt. Your fate is not ours to decide._ ”

“So, I am free to go?”

“ _Technically, yes, for we cannot oversee you where you need to go,_ ” Sein replied. _“You must arrive there by your will._ ”

“You make that sound like... a bad thing,” Ti said, their apprehension growing “What are you not telling me?”

“ _You are a fragment of a Light only familiar to me in the most distant and faded of memories. It is not our place, nor is it within our abilities, to properly nurture your growth. We are incompatible._ ” Sein paused, as if to sigh, reticence giving way to genuine unease and regret. “ _I know that you simply wish to be free and unburdened, to explore and seek your fortunes in this vast world, but I implore you to return to them. To Ori and their Wisp in Niwen. Only they can properly raise you._ ”

“...Raise? Like a _child?_ ” Ti fought back their anger as it bubbled up from within them again.

“ _Do not misunderstand, it is not your mind that is immature, but your form. The birth of a Wisp is a delicate process, and a newborn is not developed enough to be self-sustaining for quite some time. Without the Light of the parent, the child’s will falter. It could take years, or it could take days, but if you do not return, you will eventually cease to exist, with too little warning to have a chance of saving yourself. I am sorry._ ”

“Hey, this is good news, Ti!” Zal said, finally chiming in, immediately followed by a few more unhearable words from Sein. “We can just go home like we planned to originally! It’s not like my parents are going to keep you in a cage. And they’re _your_ parents now, too!”

Ti cringed at the sentiment. “No, Zal, they’re not.”

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


For Zal, the flight back to Niwen was even more silent than the previous one. Zal was more prepared for the void between the lands this time, but they also lacked Liti’s Spirit Shard to fall back on, as well as Liti’s physical embrace. Once the worst of it hit, they couldn’t attempt a conversation even if they wanted to. Ti tried to extend her own Light to fill that void, but couldn’t figure out how. In the end, all Zal could do was shapeshift into a tiny mouse to become small and secure within Ku’s feathers. It did little to help. This, however, piqued the curiosity of the squirrels, who Ti said insisted on staying with them when they heard they were going back across the sea. One of them sniffed around the now-tiny Zal before a chirp from the other drew them back. Zal couldn’t hear their conversation without Ti’s assistance, but focusing on them was at least a mild distraction from the cold terror that was this space between forests. 

Zal had spent enough time casually observing wildlife to better make use of their forms to get a sense of their temperaments. One squirrel, the one that approached, seemed more timid and gentler, while the other more bold and aggressive in its movements. And right now, those differing personalities seemed to be… arguing? If the tense body language was any indication, at least. This went on for some time, and the chill crept deeper within Zal, forcing them to shut their eyes tight and hold on to that tiniest core of warmth that remained within them. And then, after a few moments, relief came. It was small, not even a fraction of the warmth of Niwen or the cooler calm of Nibel, but it was enough to stop Zal from shivering, for the moment. 

Weakly, they opened their eyes to find themselves enclosed in brown fur. One of the squirrels had wrapped itself around them, using its body and long, fluffy tail to envelope the even more diminutive Spirit. It wasn’t really the physical contact that was helping, though, but rather a tiny trickle of Spirit Light flowing through that contact. A piece of what Ti seemed to reflexively share with the squirrels was being shared with Zal on purpose. It wasn’t enough to gauge the squirrel’s thoughts like Ti could, but Zal could sense the general motivation: Pity, with a dash of genuine altruism. And the Spirit really couldn’t disagree. They _were_ pitiable right now, and probably had been ever since Liti lost her paws in that first accident. But they could barely think straight enough to ruminate right now, so instead they sent back their own feelings of gratitude.

 _Thanks. I really appreciate it…_ Zal had no idea how clearly the message got across, but the coziness of the squirrel’s embrace was just enough to allow them to drift into a shallow, uneasy sleep, passing the time until their parents’ warmth filled them once again...


End file.
